Ohhh man this is hilarious! I used to say Milliard (minus the d) when I was a child to over exaggerate a number :D. I'm actually laughing right now because I used to think I made up that word.
I'm curious how widely used this is. The article mentions that the short scale became official in the UK. Any UK hackers around know how common the continued use of the long scale is, both among scientists/engineers and among the general population? Is the short-scale near-universal at this point, or still ambiguous?
I don't know anyone who uses the long scale scientifically or colloquially in the UK except for the occasional out-of-date pedant. Maybe some of the older generation still think it's ambiguous, I think I remember one of my parents commenting on it about 10 years ago.