Comments on: August 14 roundup

By: my 2 cents

my 2 cents — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:33:54 +0000

The use of M or k for thousand and M or MM for million seems to depend on the writer’s country of origin. I encounter both on a daily basis, but each writer seems to be consistent in their application.

I think this is one of those issues where all you can do is grit your teeth and politely ask for clarification when it is important.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:29:30 +0000

Jason, the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual is located here.

From page 166:

“M, million (3 M=3 million)”
also
“k, thousand (7k=7,000)”

Similarly, the the “numbers, measures, and money” portion of the style manual for the UK’s Telegraph indicates the same thing. That is located here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1435301/Telegraph-Style-Book-Numbers,-measures-and-money.html

By: gitarcarver

gitarcarver — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:59:04 +0000

RE the bat story is this little tidbit from the linked article:

(Lawyer Matthew) Howell said the negligence lawsuit has been filed as a class action, meaning other students could join in.

By: Jason Barney

Jason Barney — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:35:54 +0000

I did a brief online check for the correct abbreviation but did not immediately find it. If someone out there can link to the appropriate authority in formatting I’d appreciate it.

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:31:14 +0000

Perhaps Pedantic is involved in the printing industry? There, ‘M’ does indeed stand for ‘thousand’. One can order a print run of 10M, for example, and expect to receive approximately 10,000 items. ‘M’ is also used for circulation figures of printed publications.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:38:36 +0000

Pedantic, M is the SI symbol (prefix “mega-“) for million. K would be thousand.

By: pedantic

pedantic — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:06:00 +0000

$14,000? Seems pretty low as far as extortionate demands go.

Oh, you meant $14 million? $14MM?

Don’t worry, yahoo! and the AP do the same thing.

By: Jim Collins

Jim Collins — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:29:47 +0000

If the lawsuit against the Oregon Police Department was filed, without a request for the $1.4 million, what is there to make the Police Department take it seriously?

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:34:25 +0000

>>“We were forced to go ahead and file this to shed light on the events of that night” his mother said. Shed light? So, what’s with the $14M demand?<<

Once again, we need a ‘It’s not about the money’ restriction. If you say it or something similar (“We’re bringing this suit only to find the truth!”), then you can only be awarded fees.

It’ll never happen, but we can dream 🙂