Timeline for Why do people use the term "six figure sum" to mean "at least one million dollars"? [duplicate]
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
18 events
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| May 10, 2016 at 13:51 | comment | added | Fattie | Just FWIW you say "... would be peanuts given the scenario". Nah, a few hundred thousand dollars, perhaps 1/2 million dollars, (i.e "six figures") is a Lot of Money and could trivially achieve the thing under discussion. Dude It's just a typo - "just a typo"s come up often on this site, honest it's nothing more than that. They tend to generate a huge amount of discussion but it's just nothing other than a typo or hurried writing; typos and miswritings are the norm in newspapers. Ask 20 Aussies working in high paid fields , they use "six figures" like anyone else in the world. | |
| May 10, 2016 at 13:50 | comment | added | Fattie | hi @Bohemian dude. it's just a case of "you're wrong" here bud. i lived in Aus. for years and Australians are not particularly silly or illiterate. everyone there in business etc. uses the ordinary phrase "six figures" (meaning 'about $200,000 - $500,000'') the same as in every other English speaking country. It's totally commonplace. (1) you're interpreting the text wrong as Max and Trevor point out (2) it's just a typo - an utterly commonplace "so what?" occurance in newspapers (3) "I'll hunt for more references" you'd be wasting your time, but go for it. | |
| May 7, 2016 at 13:25 | history | closed |
vickyace Kristina Lopez user140086 Dan Bron ab2 |
Duplicate of "Jane makes over six figures" - how much money does she make? | |
| May 7, 2016 at 13:24 | comment | added | ab2 | Anyone who thinks a 6-figure sum means 1,000,000 or more has figures confused with zeroes. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 16:26 | comment | added | Bohemian | @max well, I can say that I've only ever heard it used this way - I'll hunt for more references. Regarding the "or" ambiguity, there is no chance they meant "$100K", which would be peanuts given the scenario. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 16:08 | comment | added | TrevorD | I read the quoted article as saying "[they] paid at least a six-figure sum, or [sometimes as much as] several million dollars". | |
| May 6, 2016 at 15:54 | answer | added | MaximusOutrider | timeline score: -1 | |
| May 6, 2016 at 15:48 | comment | added | Wayfaring Stranger | Why? Because they're wrong, and don't know any better. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 15:16 | comment | added | frank | Here in the USA references to people earning 6 figures are common, but we never understand that to mean a million or more. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 15:06 | comment | added | Max Williams | Also it's not clear from that article whether the reporter means "a six-figure sum, or several million dollars (which are two different things)" or "a six-figure sum, or several million dollars (which is another way of saying a six-figure sum)" | |
| May 6, 2016 at 15:05 | comment | added | Max Williams | I think that this is just a mistake in the article. You'll need more evidence than this to say that it's "synonymous with an amount over $1,000,000 in Australia" | |
| May 6, 2016 at 14:58 | review | Close votes | |||
| May 7, 2016 at 13:30 | |||||
| May 6, 2016 at 14:54 | comment | added | Bohemian | @vicky this is not a duplicate. I edited the question to reference a recent online article that shows this specific (incorrect) usage. Perhaps it is endemic to Australia. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 14:52 | history | edited | Bohemian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added quote
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| May 6, 2016 at 14:36 | comment | added | vickyace | They do so because they never joined this site and asked what a six figure sum is. They should. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 14:36 | comment | added | Jonathan S. | I've never heard this (in the US). Incidentally, one million = 10^6, but that yields seven digits, as you say. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 14:34 | answer | added | jejorda2 | timeline score: 2 | |
| May 6, 2016 at 14:30 | history | asked | Bohemian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |