Sorry! Quick aside again - I had a look at this one, 'cos it's the sort of anal thing I do!
Billions, trillions appear to differ in the UK and US:
US Billion: 1,000,000,000
UK Billion: 1,000,000,000,000
US Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
UK Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
US Quintillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
UK Quintillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Even I got bored at that point.
And, interestingly (hahaha) enough - the US is actually abysmally in debt at the moment to the tune of:
$7,925,741,499,921.91
Nearly 8 billion (8 trillion US ) dollars.
(Source: http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm)
Go figure!!! :D
I guess in a way, we're helping them pay back their national debt in return for their assistance in WW2. It's all good