Q: Why does this Super Bowl bill itself as Super Bowl XLIX instead of the more common way of writing 49 in Roman numerals, IL?
—Gary Proctor, Stone Mountain
A: XLIX is the proper Roman numeral for 49. The system doesn't allow the "I" (or 1) and "V" (5) to be subtracted from a number larger than "X" (10). So "X" needs to modify "L" (50), which equals to XL (40) and then make the 9 as IX, according to roman-numerals.org. Together, they form XLIX, or 49. The NFL will not use the Roman numeral L next year for the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl. It will be known as Super Bowl 50, but the league will return to the system for Super Bowl LI in 2017. Roman numerals were first used for Super Bowl V in 1971.
Q: Who said, “A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money?” And when?
—Lance DeLoach, Thomaston
A: That quote often has been credited to Everett Dirksen, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, who is reported to have said it on "The Tonight Show" in the 1960s. He was a U.S. representative from 1933-49 and a senator from 1951-69, but The Dirksen Congressional Center "found no evidence that Dirksen ever uttered the phrase popularly attributed to him." A variation of it — "Well, now, about this new budget. It's a billion here and a billion there, and by and by it begins to mount up into money." — appeared in a New York Times column on Jan. 10, 1938. Dirksen died in 1969.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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