Poll: Do you prefer BC/AD or BCE/CE for year numbering?

[CrazyInSane]

For those who don't know, BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) are secularized terms to replace BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini), respectively.

I've included mention of the days of the week and the months in the poll, because they are similar in that they are secular conventions based off religious pagan gods. The Quakers have actually already come up with secular names for them (Sunday = First Day, Monday = Second Day, etc.).

 

[SithDoughnut]

I picked the first option, but this poll is lacking in options somewhat. A lot of views, including my own, are not covered. I do not actually prefer BC/AD; I use it out of habit, I don't actually care.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Sith, do you mean 2012?

 

[GrowingSmaller]

I think all options are a bit Eurocentric.

 

[pgp_protector]

Option one only because it's what I'm used to.
If their was a 5th option (Don'e care) I'd select that one.
I don't recall the last time I had to really identify AD/BC/BCE/CE

 

[MorkandMindy]

I call Thursday 'Thursday', it means Thor's day but that doesn't mean it didn't become secularised long ago.

No doubt next year the USA will be taken over by people claiming it is a Viking country and the day names prove the founding fathers were all Nordic.

 

[AlexBP]

I chose the first option simply because I see no reason in changing such a thing. Where would the trend end? Why stop at secularizing only markers of time? Are we also going to secularize the names of cities such as St. Paul, Los Angeles, and Corpus Christi? Are we going to cut off diplomatic relations with the Dominican Republic and El Salvador until they secularize their names?

 

[SithDoughnut]

Sith, do you mean 2012?

Why would I mean 2012? Where did you get that from?

 

[Incariol]

Where's the "I don't care" option? Both nomenclatures are still based around the life of Jesus Christ, so personally I think the BCE/ACE system is a bit of a farce...

 

[SithDoughnut]

Where's the "I don't care" option? Both nomenclatures are still based around the life of Jesus Christ, so personally I think the BCE/ACE system is a bit of a farce...

The calendar is based around Jesus Christ, but BCE/CE gained popularity in places where the Gregorian calender is used but there isn't really any Christian meaning behind it. BCE/CE makes a lot more sense in that sort of context than BC/AD.

 

[Nooj]

I accidentally chose the third option but I meant the fourth. I've gotten used to using BCE and CE after reading academic works. It looks better as well.

 

[Resha Caner]

I'm sort of in the "don't care" category, but with leanings toward "it's a stupid thing to do." If someone were to ask why this is 2011 CE, you'd have to admit that it is because the monk who set up the BC/AD dating method thought that was the year Jesus was born.

So, BCE/CE is just a silly euphimism created by the Christian-adverse. It was something that irritated me all through my history program. I still use BC/AD, not because it's an important religious issue to me, but just because I hate revisionism. Fess up to why things are the way they are.

So, in that same vein, I agree with some of the preceeding comments:

1. Our dating system is West-centric regardless of what label we put on it. You can't hide that.

2. Where does it stop? How can we name anything without tying it to one meaning or another? It reminds me of an interview I saw with an Israeli woman who was an expatriate from Nazi Germany. When a Palestinian demanded she give her home up, she asked (paraphrased), "Does that mean I can go back to Germany and demand my home there? And if I succeed, can the person in that house go back to their former house and so on?"

 

[m9lc]

Yes, this poll is very flawed in that it doesn't have an "I don't care" option. I use BC/AD because that's how I've always learned it. BCE/CE is just unnecessarily politically correct. I personally don't even think of the Christian connotations when I use BC/AD. If BCE/CE switches over into more common usage in the future... meh.

 

[Eudaimonist]

I prefer BCE/CE, but I don't really care all that much. It's not like I want to force everyone to use that notation.

The names of the days and months are so obscure in meaning that I don't think it matters what they are called.

Still... Dawkinsday, Hitchensday, etc do have a nice ring to them.




eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Dark_Lite]

Don't really care, but if we're going in the interests of pure efficiency, BC is faster to type than BCE.

 

[alton3]

That the birth of Christ is used to enumerate the "common era" doesn't change when the terminology is secularized. I'd be more receptive to the concept if an obvious alternative existed, but what would it be?

 

[Eudaimonist]

Don't really care, but if we're going in the interests of pure efficiency, BC is faster to type than BCE.

Just typing B would be even more efficient. We could use A for CE.

Before and After.

We could use any event for a reference point, but I'm partial to using a significant date in science or technology for that point. Perhaps the first manned Moon landing.

And let's have that be year zero. So, 1969 would be year 0, 1970 would be year 1, and so on. That would make the current year 42 A, unless my math skills fail me.

I would have been born in 2 B.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Gracchus]

Just typing B would be even more efficient. We could use A for CE.

Before and After.

We could use any event for a reference point, but I'm partial to using a significant date in science or technology for that point. Perhaps the first manned Moon landing.

And let's have that be year zero. So, 1969 would be year 0, 1970 would be year 1, and so on. That would make the current year 42 A, unless my math skills fail me.

I would have been born in 2 B.


eudaimonia,

Mark

You have some reasonable suggestions, but let's face it, most of us are still stuck with a QWERTY keyboard.

I chose option four, because most of the new archaeological and historical literature uses BCE/CE, which is the only context in which it is important to make a distinction. Paleontologists often use BP (Before Present) because a few thousand years is a reasonable margin of error in that field. I don't use CE or AD when I date my checks. No one notices any ambiguity. And the names of the days of the week don't really have religious connotations anymore, so no one is likely to be offended or confused by them. In fact weeks and months could easily be dispensed with entirely.

 

[Tinker Grey]

If we pick 1970 as year zero, it would line up with Unix Date/Time stamping.

 

[Eudaimonist]

You have some reasonable suggestions, but let's face it, most of us are still stuck with a QWERTY keyboard.

I wasn't being entirely serious. I was just running with an idea. No, I don't expect any big changes in the way people calculate dates.


eudaimonia,

Mark