Date:    Mon, 15 Jun 1998 14:34:40 -0400
<br>From:    Larry Horn <laurence.horn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: 9guzillion9
<br>
<br>At 11:00 AM -0700 6/15/98, A. Vine wrote:
<br>>Avi Arditti wrote:
<br>>>
<br>>>
<br>>> Next Sunday the topic will be *g /uh/ zillion.* I have even heard
<br>>>:guzillionaire.: If anyone would like to contribute any thoughts, please
<br>>>do -- I might read your note on the air.
<br>>>
<br>>
<br>>Avi,
<br>>I would write the word "gazillion" rather than "guzillion".  I'm trying to
<br>>figure out why, but I seem to see nonsense or augmentative words in English
<br>>having a "ga" at the beginning:  gaga, gads, gazonga, gargantuan.
<br>>Andrea
<br>>
<br>For sure.  And it's not just an informal impression on Andrea's (or my)
<br>part.  Nexis has exactly 6 cites of "guzillion" in its entire ALLNWS file.
<br>It has 402 cites of "gazillion" just since 1/1/98.  There were 345 cites
<br>during the same period (1/1 to 6/15) in 1997, which weakly suggests that
<br>it's becoming more popular.  Either that, or inflation is kicking in.
<br>
<br>Larry
<br>