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[Jopax]

Question.

What is your stance on the other year counting systems? Do those offend you too? Since they too are based in religion for the most part, or are they irrelevant because the majority of the world isn't using them?

[Helgoland]

It's a different declination called u-declination. Pretty rare, but in Catholic liturgy the Latin genitive is used even when the surrounding text is (in my case) German.

[Leafsnail]

So what? As has been stated above, August refers to a pagan emperor, and the German word for thursday - Donnerstag - quite explicitly means Donar's day, Donar being a heathen god. Yet I'm pretty sure even Benedict XVI used that word...
What a word used to mean and what it's taken to mean are two different things, is all I'm saying.

I've already been over this before, and I haven't received any real response: basically nobody gives a shit about any of those gods anymore, while a lot of people (particularly Jews and Muslims, so over 1.6 billion people) do feel strongly that Jesus Christ is not the messiah.  Heck, the system was originated by Jewish scholars who didn't accept the divinity of Jesus.  In addition, "Donar Day" does not imply that Donar is the one true lord (heck, it doesn't even imply that Donar exists, really) in the same way that The Days of Our/The Lord does for Jesus.

Question.

What is your stance on the other year counting systems? Do those offend you too? Since they too are based in religion for the most part, or are they irrelevant because the majority of the world isn't using them?

They are entirely irrelevant because nobody outside of the respective religions are under any expectation to use them. 

[Helgoland]

"This year belongs to the Lord" is very analogous to "This day belongs to Donar". And yes, people do feel strongly about Donar not being real - just ask any of the devout Christians around here. (Not me, though, I just like the music in Church )

[scriver]

Anno Domini literally proclaims that Jesus is the Lord, and that the years belong to him.

Not really. It is Latin, meaning 'year of the lord' (domini is the genitivus of dominus = lord)
It does not mean 'year of our lord'. That would be Anno Domini Nostri.
It also does not mean 'year of Jesus Christ', that would be Anno Iesi Christi.

Feigning ignorance of what people object to by insisting on the most literal interpretation possible is not constructive to any kind of discussion.

[Sheb]

They are entirely irrelevant because nobody outside of the respective religions are under any expectation to use them. 

That's patently false. Muslims in Thailand use the Thai/Buddhist calendar for exemple.

[Rolan7]

Why is everyone ignoring the context provided by BC, "Before Christ"?

Anno Domini means just means "Year of our lord", which is arguably vague (except that it was created by Christians to revere Christ and is taken directly from a Christian prayer).  But it's paired with "Before Christ".  There's no ambiguity, the two terms are plainly still referring to the arrival and reign of the Jewish Messiah.

This has been pointed out a few times already...

The chosen year isn't the problem, it's just a point in time of common usage.  We should just call it the Common Era instead of "That time the savior of the Jews arrived and thereafter was our lord".

If I ever see someone actually using the "CE/BCE" thing, I'm going to slap them in the face for being silly.

This isn't as funny as you probably think.

[scriver]

What exactly makes it the "Common Era" though?

[Leafsnail]

Well they seem to also list AD alongside their Buddhist Era dates in Thailand for convenience, and in any case I don't really see the relevance to the discussion at hand.  If Muslims are actually forced to use it and are offended by it then that's bad too I guess.

What exactly makes it the "Common Era" though?

The fact that it's in common usage.

[Sheb]

=> Claim other system aren't a big deal because no one is forced to use them.
=> Is shown an exemple of people having to use a system based on another faith.
=> Claim he doesn't see the relevance of this.


As for my position, it's mostly an "I don't give a shit".

[martinuzz]

Anno Domini literally proclaims that Jesus is the Lord, and that the years belong to him.

Not really. It is Latin, meaning 'year of the lord' (domini is the genitivus of dominus = lord)
It does not mean 'year of our lord'. That would be Anno Domini Nostri.
It also does not mean 'year of Jesus Christ', that would be Anno Iesi Christi.

Feigning ignorance of what people object to by insisting on the most literal interpretation possible is not constructive to any kind of discussion.

I wasn't the one saying that anno domini "literally" proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

[Leafsnail]

What is the relevance to the main topic of the thread?  I guess if you squint a bit it's a minor "gotcha" on something I said, but it doesn't challenge my actual argument in any way.

I wasn't the one saying that anno domini "literally" proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

Congratulations you have scored 10 pedant points, now how about addressing the actual argument as a whole.

[Sheb]

Well, this whole thread is a big exercise in pedantry anyway.

[Playergamer]

also, since we're talking about units, sorta kinda, i agree with randall munroe about redefining the foot to a single light-nanosecond.

* Playergamer drops 2 million pennies into the room and runs away as everyone is crushed.

[Helgoland]

I guess it's a great example of what topics not to debate: There's no new information to be learned, both sides lack good arguments, and it all essentialy comes down to bashing each other's heads in for fun and vitriol.

Anyone up for a derail? I hear CRISPR has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of certain, mostly genetic disorders...