Big numbers

(By Richard Holway 8.00pm 1st March 09) The ‘term of the year’ last year was credit crunch. This year it might be fiscal stimulus – except it sounds more like the name of a new rock band.

But the word that seems to be heard most is trillion. I have got my head around million and am almost there with billion – but until now I thought that Trillian was just the name of Zaphod Beeblebrox’s girlfriend in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.The way everyone is talking trillions, I wonder if it too will soon be superseded. So, at many recent social events, I’ve taken to asking people 'what comes after a trillion?'. Maybe it’s just the company I keep, but no one seemed to know!

So to put them (and possibly even you) out of their misery, it’s quadrillion (and on to quintillion, sextillion etc). I wonder how long it will be before these are contenders for ‘word of the year’?