I just hate it when questions pop into my mind. I probably know the answer to this but have forgotten it. I love forgetting things because it makes old movies new, old jokes new and each conversation new. Sure hope I haven't asked this question before or I'll be embarrassed!

I was reading, and the date of, I don't know, 735 B.C. came up. Now, I understand why we have B.C. and A.D. but what bothers me is the B.C. part. They didn't know that it was B.C. so what did they call it before A.D. started? It's like naming a painting period. You couldn't, originally, name it Pre-impressionistic unless you already had a impressionistic period. It's not like they were having a countdown until A.D. started. They didn't start at 1000 and say "we'll count backwards until we get to zero and see what happens then." And what happened when they got to one? It was one B.C. and then it was one A.D.! What did they call zero? Were they so excited that they just forgot that year? I'm sure everyone wasn't excited so who decided to change the dating system? Of course, I'm glad they did because otherwise, the longest line on our check books would be the date line. I'd hate to be writing a number like one million, two hundred thousand, four hundred and sixty five or whatever, each time I wrote a check or filled out an application because they didn't start counting backwards from the big bang.

Wildman, (making the simple difficult)

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2002

Answers

I don't know the answers to some of what you asked but I do know that there isn't a year zero. It goes from 1 BC to 1 AD. I'll be interested to hear some more answers. I like the way you think Wildman!

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002

Wildman..........sometimes you make my mind go around in circles!!! LOL

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002

I don't know the specifics, but various cultures used various systems to number the years. The Chinese still do, and I believe the Jews do too, at least from a religious perspective. I know they didn't come up with this system until years "after the fact" of Christ's birth, and I also know that scholars say he was "really" born sometime between 4-6 A.D.

Many of us are starting to use BCE and CE designations -- Before Common Era (BC) and Common Era (CE). There, throw THOSe into your mix of confusion.

Though I use Fahrenheit for the temperatures, really, Celsius makes more sense. With Fahrenheit, freezing is at 32*, but with Celsius, it's at 0*. I haven't converted to using Celsius for a couple of reasons: The country as a whole has not, and those Celsius numbers for the HOT days just aren't as IMPRESSIVE as Fahrenheit. ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002

Joy, I think we should use BD and AD. Before Drugs and After Drugs! Or Before Drink and After Drink. Then we could control our own ages!

I like the metric system for measuring my chest but use standard for waist and hips. Metric for biceps and other things that I want large and standard for my feet. Is there such a thing as a metric I.Q.? That would be interesting.

Wildman, (turning back time)

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002