BC vs BCE

[Hennessy]

any attempts to retroactively alter the documented dates from the last 1600 years would be an utter nightmare. Which is a shame, as the BC counting-backwards thing is a pain in the arse

Sorry Redcelt, I only got as far as this sentence before I started giggling. That's what I meant by re-imagining history. You wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't object to it, if you didn't want a debate, yes?

"Before Christ"... every single time

So what? I doubt it affected your understanding of what he meant, just like I doubt that any Chinese students who many have been present would have had trouble understanding either. Why does it matter what his personal beliefs are if he's not trying to push them on you? Don't be such an insidious little bastard and it won't get to you.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yup. Mm-hmm. Yes. <nodding>

Thanks for your agreement.

[jollytiddlywink]

My point of view as a historian is that
a) trying to re-date everything would indeed be a complete (and un-necessary) nightmare--the Russian revolution when they still used a different calendar (Gregorian/Julian, I think), or the French revolution are good examples of the pain of trying to get two sets of dates to synch up. And of course nobody would agree which arbitrary point would be best to begin the new system from.
b) as an atheist/agnostic, I see no problem with using AD/BC. In fact I prefer them to BCE and CE, because I feel that AD and BC are culturally rooted, but the 'Common Era' idea strikes me a tending more into a kind of vague cultural imperialism, in the way that western culture is continuing to spread over the world. I know that international trade, treaties, etc, would also be a nightmare if they all had to work in different calendars, and the UN would be worse than the tower of Babel, but I personally feel that CE is pretentious. BC and AD work fine, why change them?

[Tweedle-Dum]

Couldn't we set year zero as 4004 BC, as we all know the earth was created on 23 October of that year.

[RedCelt69]

<white noise>

Couldn't we set year zero as 4004 BC, as we all know the earth was created on 23 October of that year.

Morning, or afternoon?

[Haunted]

Was that Eastern time?

[Humphrey]

According to James Ussher the first day of creation began at nightfall preceding Sunday October 23, 4004 BC, in the proleptic Julian calendar, near the autumnal equinox. In fairness to him, he was writing in the 17th century and had only the bible to go on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussher_chronology