This Would Be Funny If It Weren't So Depressing

Michael C. Moynihan | July 23, 2008

The economic woes of Zimbabwe—an understatement, I know—continue apace, and BBC News is reporting the odd nomenclatural difficulties facing local economists. For instance, can the average Zimbabwean count the zeros in a quadrillion? A septillion? With wads of worthless billion dollar notes in circulation and inflation showing no sign of abating, one woman told the BBC that she is using the Internet to make sense of all those zeros in her wallet: "I actually Googled what comes after trillion about a month ago, and sent that out to all my friends so they'd be prepared."

It's depressing for sure, but it's difficult not to be both befuddled and amused by this little detail noted by Auntie Beeb:

Only last week, the Harare Herald advertised the Lotto bonanza prize being offered was 1.2 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars. At the time, that was equivalent to around 4,000 US dollars.

Full story.