Lakh? Crore? What are they?

[Conscious]

Has anyone ever wondered how many people (apart from the 1 billion in India) actually understand and recognize the denominations / words \"lakh\"
and \"crore\"? They are used only in India and mean nothing to people outside the country.

To digress a bit, does anyone know where the words originated from? There is one explanation that goes.... 100,000 lac beetles were needed to make one laquer cup and hence the name!

Back to my original thought, has anyone noticed that most websites (i.e., those originating out of India) are completely oblivious to the fact that no one outside the country understands the words? I agree most of them are for a desi audience, but even the Government and business websites have numbers quoted in Lakh and Crore. Any person alien to Indianisms will not have a darn clue. I think it\'s time to talk millions and bring in the bucks!

NOTE: This note is not intended to appeal to those that think calling a lakh (1,00,000) a hundered thousand (100,000) is an act of submission to Western thinking, or a dilution of Indian cultural traditions.