Reminds me of the imperial measurements debate.
Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
121–130 of 1001 posts
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#122Couldn't this whole thread just be condensed to: we have a thing called culture which is not completely rational or efficient? I'm sure the aliens would get that - they would probably have something similar, albeit with different irrationalities and inefficiencies.
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd love to hear the logic of why Monday should be the first day of the week.
Well, since Saturday and Sunday are called "weekEND", so it logically follows that Monday is a "week start". Most people think about it like this: Monday is a start of a new work-week, and then you get two days of rest at the end of the week.
But there are two ends of any line, one on each side. Not two ends, both of which are on the same side.
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#124> "At the start of the year?" > "nah. The end of the second month" > "WHY WOULD IT BE THE SECOND MONTH?" Because leap day is at the end of the year, but at some time we moved the start of the year two months back (same reason why September through December now are the ninth through twelfth month of the year, not the seventh through tenth) (Historically, I think it was slightly different. February, the last month of t…
February, the last month of the year was shorter because the year isn’t long enough to give it 30 days Originally February had 30 days, along with all the other months. (The 5 or 6 remaining days at various times were either extra days which didn't belong to a month or were omitted until there was a month's worth of them to catch up on.) February got shorter because (being the last month of the year) it had days remo…
Augustus and Julius stole a day from February so theirs' would be long ones.
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd love to hear the logic of why Monday should be the first day of the week.
Well, since Saturday and Sunday are called "weekEND", so it logically follows that Monday is a "week start". Most people think about it like this: Monday is a start of a new work-week, and then you get two days of rest at the end of the week.
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Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#126In Portuguese, Monday-Friday are numbered (2a-feira - 6a-feira). I wonder if are there other languages also presenting this feature. I believe there are.
Days of the week in Hebrew are numbered from Sunday "Yom Rishon" (First day, lit. "Head Day") to Friday "Yom Shishi" (Sixth Day). "Saturday" is "Shabbat" ("sabbath")
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#127> "At the start of the year?" > "nah. The end of the second month" > "WHY WOULD IT BE THE SECOND MONTH?" Because leap day is at the end of the year, but at some time we moved the start of the year two months back (same reason why September through December now are the ninth through twelfth month of the year, not the seventh through tenth) (Historically, I think it was slightly different. February, the last month of t…
It was the Romans who inserted a leap month inside February between the 23rd and 24th. Since the two consuls ruled on alternating months, adding an extra month after February would give one consul one more ruling month, making it somewhat unfair. Since leap years were handled irregularly back then, they were leap months, not leap days. The Julian calendar introduced the leap day instead, and maintained it in February…
Julius and Augustus you mean, both were Caesars (Augustus, AKA Octavian, was adopted).
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd love to hear the logic of why Monday should be the first day of the week.
I'd love to hear the logic of why Monday should NOT be the first day of the week.
Because weekENDs. There are two ends, one at the beginning (Sunday) and one at the end (Saturday).
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#129Don't tell the aliens about the missing 12 days in 1752: https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/lifestyle/columns/201...
Not to mention that quite a few countries are also missing those 12 days, but in completely different years. Greece did so in 1923, for example.
Re: Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why September, October, November and December are named after the numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10: they are the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th month if you start the year in March, like we used to.
The author mentions this as well. I don’t know how I’ve never connected those dots.
There’s no going back. I routinely mess up 8 with October now.