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The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634
Interesting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/People-Eight-Seasons-story-Lapps/dp...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personal as in PTO is personal time off
Pretty sure it's Paid Time Off at least here in the US
Confusingly, paid time off (with the same abbreviation) is also sometimes used in the more obvious sense encompassing all or most paid leave (including some or all of things like bereavement, company/public holidays, paid time for administrative shutdowns, etc.)
(All of this is in the U.S.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another phenomenon I’ve found curious is the cross-cultural definition of a week as roughly a quarter moon, and correlated names for days of the week. [1] Sunday Sun Sōlis Hēlíou 日曜日 Monday Moon Lūnae Selḗnēs 月曜日 Tuesday Mars Mārtis Áreōs 火曜日 Wednesday Mercury Mercuriī Hermoû 水曜日 Thursday Jupiter Iovis Diós 木曜日 Friday Venus Veneris Aphrodítēs 金曜日 Saturday Saturn Sāturnī Krónou 土曜日 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…
Polish doesn't use those names, but a different system: Poniedziałek (lit. After not working) Wtorek (not sure) Środa (also not sure) Czwartek (lit. the fourth) Piątek (possibly means drinking day?) Sobota (not sure) Niedziela (Not working)
The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634
Interesting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In particular the traditional Persian new year (Nowruz) starts in spring, and is celebrated throughout central asia as far as Kazakhstan.
The roman calendar started the year in spring as well with March (hence the names September/October/November/December are literally the 7th/8th/9th/10th month). The Greek apparently were all over the place with the year starting in summer/fall/winter depending on region/polis.
As an aside, a lot of people are joking about the pyramids. However, 3200 years ago is 1200 BC which is New Kingdom. The pyramids were built in the Old Kingdom. When these workers were complaining, the Great Pyramid was already 1000 years old. (The bosses probably talked about how back in the day when their ancestors built the pyramids, workers were much tougher and dedicated)
They likely didn't.
The Egyptians recorded many things, including excuses for missing work, with incredible detail. They never once recorded how they built the pyramids.
Either religious/spiritual/ritualistic reasons prevented them from doing so, or they didn't build them. Either way, they didn't record it and probably didn't speak of it.
As an aside, a lot of people are joking about the pyramids. However, 3200 years ago is 1200 BC which is New Kingdom. The pyramids were built in the Old Kingdom. When these workers were complaining, the Great Pyramid was already 1000 years old. (The bosses probably talked about how back in the day when their ancestors built the pyramids, workers were much tougher and dedicated)
> (The bosses probably talked about how back in the day when their ancestors built the pyramids, workers were much tougher and dedicated) They likely didn't. The Egyptians recorded many things, including excuses for missing work, with incredible detail. They never once recorded how they built the pyramids. Either religious/spiritual/ritualistic reasons prevented them from doing so, or they didn't build them. Either w…
As an aside, a lot of people are joking about the pyramids. However, 3200 years ago is 1200 BC which is New Kingdom. The pyramids were built in the Old Kingdom. When these workers were complaining, the Great Pyramid was already 1000 years old. (The bosses probably talked about how back in the day when their ancestors built the pyramids, workers were much tougher and dedicated)
> (The bosses probably talked about how back in the day when their ancestors built the pyramids, workers were much tougher and dedicated) They likely didn't. The Egyptians recorded many things, including excuses for missing work, with incredible detail. They never once recorded how they built the pyramids. Either religious/spiritual/ritualistic reasons prevented them from doing so, or they didn't build them. Either w…