Frame the argument
I was listening to Marketplace this week when I heard a comment about how much something cost. According to the reporter a deal was going to personally net a CEO "about a quarter of a billion dollars."
That little turn of phrase reminded me of an editorial meeting I once attended, back when I worked for a large newspaper.
Someone was making their story pitch - trying to get on the front page. I'm fuzzy on the details of the story, except for one clear bit: the cost of the project in the story was "a quarter of a billion dollars."
The editor of the paper was a tough person, inscrutable in many ways. She leaned back in her chair a little and replied, "but that's really just $250 million." Deflated, the reporter's story didn't make the front page.
So what's the difference between a quarter billion dollars and $250 million? Not a penny.
There