Unicorns #2: Half-Metric

 My daughter’s 5th standard Maths book has a chapter on the metric system:

“The metric system of measurement which is used all over the world is based on the multiples of 10.”

To recap what you learnt at school, Kilo is 1,000; Hecto is 100; Deca is 10; Deci is 1/10th; Centi is 1/100th; and Milli is 1/1,000th.

 

The (in)famous exception to the “used all over the world” part of that description is, of course, America.

 

Remember the term “unicorn” that refers to privately owned startups that are valued at a billion dollars or more? Well, there are enough of them whose value is more than $10 billion. And a few even crossed $100 billion. So new terms were needed for those. By a remarkable coincidence, the “uni” part of “unicorn” means “one”, so the new terms were almost self-evident:

·       Decacorn = a unicorn valued at over $10 billion (but less than $100 billion);

·       Hectocorn = a unicorn valued at over $100 billion.

 

It’s one of those rare cases where even the US uses a metric convention!

 

But on the other side of the spectrum, i.e., smaller than a unicorn, the terms are very un-metric again. A private startup that is worth more than $1 million is called a ‘minicorn’ – it’s a long way from becoming a unicorn, but hey, who knows?

 

The other term is for the company that has grown large enough that it is going to become a unicorn anytime now. The name for such a company is ‘soonicorn’, as in “soon to be a unicorn”.

 

Consistency and the metric system – I guess the US isn’t a big fan of either…

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