The OLDER Photographers' thread...

wuzzittoya wrote in post #13913693
BCE has been adopted as "Before the Common Era" instead of "Before Christ."

I watch way too much History Channel!

Ah...now I have heard of that.
Never seen it though, as I think life is too short for TV, 99% of the time.

Roy Mathers wrote in post #13913873
Not by me it hasn't!

ROY! You're back!!!!!!

I never thought I'd say this, but I missed you!!!!!!!!

Roy Mathers wrote in post #13913873
Not by me it hasn't!

There are many who find it a silly convention of political correctness, Roy... perhaps I should learn not to make broad sweeping statements, even if it's early in the morning and I wasn't thinking things through well enough to put the comment up?

Let me rephrase -

"BCE has replaced the acronym BC in some circles and stands for "before the common era."

(there was a more wordy one but it sounded judgmental and was way too long)

Me, I think political correctness is silly...

Political correctness is an oxymoron.

skygod44 wrote in post #13912750
Glad you are, Ann....but at least we now have an admission from Rog that he really is as old as the hills. And therefore, only worth viewing as a landscape!

"C.E." and "B.C.E." are irreligious terms used to replace "A.D." and "B.C.," respectively. Look 'em up. Or save time and keep reading.

"A.D." stands for "Anno Domini," Latin for "the year of the Lord," and refers to Jesus Christ. What happens if one is not Christian?

"B.C." stands for "before Christ," which itself means "before the Messiah." Again, what happens if one is not Christian?

Many non-Christians find the terms "A.D." and "B.C." highly objectionable. And justly so.

The correct terms to use in an irreligious context are "C.E." and "B.C.E.", respectively. These stand for "common era" and "before the common era," respectively, and simply refer to the most common calendar in use worldwide, the Gregorian calendar. Chronologically, "C.E." and "B.C.E." are identical to "A.D." and "B.C.", respectively.

In those forms of English that do not use periods in abbreviations, they become "CE" and "BCE", as one would expect. Grammar is grammar.

The use of "C.E." and "B.C.E." is not nitpicking. It is fundamental in a cosmopolitan society.

Let me give you an example. I've seen history books that blatantly state: "The modern state of Israel was founded in 1948 A.D." Not if you're an Israeli it wasn't! And not if you're a Palestinian, either! Neither the Jews nor the Muslims recognize Jesus Christ as "Lord," so the use of "A.D." is completely inappropriate. One should more correctly state: "The modern state of Israel was founded in 1948 C.E."

Of course, if one were a hard-core fundamentalist Christian, one could tell onesself (and others) that the "C." in "C.E." and "B.C.E." stands for "Christian." Quite a few do. They are, of course, wrong, but what's one more wrong with such people.

Yno wrote in post #13914303
Political correctness is an oxymoron.

The world is full of morons, and almost all of them use oxygen.

The terms CE and BCE may well be used to replace AD and BC (although, as stated, not by me), but the irony is that they still date our years from the birth of Christ, so it's purely a cosmetic (or PC) change.

Roy Mathers wrote in post #13914604
The terms CE and BCE may well be used to replace AD and BC (although, as stated, not by me), but the irony is that they still date our years from the birth of Christ, so it's purely a cosmetic (or PC) change.

Yes and no. They refer to the most common calendrical system, which is the Gregorian calendar, which is, as we know, erroneously based upon the birth of Christ. So in that sense, the C.E./B.C.E. system is, as you say, ironically purely a cosmetic change.

On the other hand, would you, as a Christian, like being forced to refer to another culture's deity as "Lord" in your everyday writing and speech? Well, neither do non-Christians like references to the Christ in something as mundane as dates.

The use of "C.E." and "B.C.E." is not simply PC-speak. It's a bit more germane than, for example, calling a housewife a "domestic engineer."

Now, you and I both know that the Gregorian calendar, while a vast improvement over the Julian calendar that preceded it, is still crap. It fails to meet it's basic objective, dating from the birth of Christ, by several years, and is incompatible with modern mensuration. Unfortunately, it's not likely to be replaced anytime soon. We all pretty much have to live with it, warts and all. What we don't have to do is rub it in the faces of all those who happen not to be Christians. After all, there are many more non-Christians than there are Christians. If it ever came up for a vote, the Christians would lose.

And please note that those who insist on using "A.D." and "B.C." because they honor Christ seem to have no trouble giving homage to various pagan gods in their casual everyday speech. Hypocrisy abounds, even unintentionally.

And a happy Freya's day to you all.

I wonder what year it is in the Jewish calendar...

Happy Freya's day to you, too! What did you do on Thor's day?

I wonder why we can't just allow words to stay in our vocabulary, acknowledge their history but leave them as history? Hmm...

The world is gonna end this year, so who cares? If we survive, we can start a new calendar where the Myans left off.

And if anyone were to care, I use AD and BC. But I won't get religious over it.

Jill-of-all-Trades wrote in post #13915112
The world is gonna end this year, so who cares? If we survive, we can start a new calendar where the Myans left off.

And if anyone were to care, I use AD and BC. But I won't get religious over it.

Love it!

wuzzittoya wrote in post #13915001
I wonder what year it is in the Jewish calendar...

Happy Freya's day to you, too! What did you do on Thor's day?

I wonder why we can't just allow words to stay in our vocabulary, acknowledge their history but leave them as history? Hmm...

Not much on Thor's day.

We can usually leave words as they are. That is, until they enter the realm of religion, where all reason and logic goes out the window. But the Earth still orbits the Sun.

What I believe is religion. What you believe is mythology. And you may say exactly the same thing.

Another place where words lead us astray is where they adopt new and radically different meanings.

"Gay," for example, means "having or showing a merry, lively mood." So the next time you see a (match your own gender) biker/biker chick showing that he/she has a merry, lively mood, tell him/her that he/she is gay.

If he/she isn't, something drastic may happen to you. If he/she is, something even more drastic may happen to you.

20droger wrote in post #13915290
Not much on Thor's day.

We can usually leave words as they are. That is, until they enter the realm of religion, where all reason and logic goes out the window. But the Earth still orbits the Sun.

What I believe is religion. What you believe is mythology. And you may say exactly the same thing.

Another place where words lead us astray is where they adopt new and radically different meanings.

"Gay," for example, means "having or showing a merry, lively mood." So the next time you see a (match your own gender) biker/biker chick showing that he/she has a merry, lively mood, tell him/her that he/she is gay.

If he/she isn't, something drastic may happen to you. If he/she is, something even more drastic may happen to you.

LOL

Sounds like, in your way, you love words as much as I do.

All very interesting. In a nutshell, many people seem happy to find an excuse to get upset over everyday things....like the difference beteen BC and BCE, which, as Roy says, is a cosmetic change.

Far better to save one's energy and stress for fighting injustice and prejudice....

And Roger, I have contemplated trying your idea...but never quite had the nerve. I rather resent the hi-jacking of everyday words to mean something totally different. It gets so silly...a friend of mine whose name is Gay was prevented by the "word-police" from using her name in an application form for something on the internet...because "gay" had been flagged for some reason! The fact that she IS living in a lesbian relationship seemed to make it even more ironic.

And Wuzzi, I can see you love words, and use them well...our language is a vast and fabulous treasure and it saddens me that it is not respected in our institutions of learning as it should be. This is one of the reasons I value Roy and Roger....not because of what they say so much as the fact that they care enough to say it.

Go guys!

Ricardo222 wrote in post #13915555
And Wuzzi, I can see you love words, and use them well...our language is a vast and fabulous treasure and it saddens me that it is not respected in our institutions of learning as it should be. This is one of the reasons I value Roy and Roger....not because of what they say so much as the fact that they care enough to say it.

Go guys!

Thank you so much, Ricardo, for your kindness. I do love words. I love all expression, which probably explains why I also love poetry, novel, short story, music, sculpture and painting as well as photography.

I just hope one day to learn to communicate well, and in as many ways as I can.