h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To be completley politically correct, the terms BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) should be replaced with BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era). These words have no religious connotation wahtsoever, and will be accepted by people of all religions.

I, for one, am not christian, and this BC business bugs me.

Willa anyone consider this as an update?

-FTF

I think it's a question of clarity. A lot of people just wouldn't understand if you wrote 350 CE. Even those who do not recognise Jesus as the Christ will mostly still use the general BC/AD numbering system when generally referring to dates outside of their own religious communities. If you refer to the present year as 2002 that is already a tacit acknowledgement of the generally accepted numbering system, which is still based on Christianity whether you call it AD or CE or anything else.

What I do feel more strongly about is calling a certain group of h2g2 volunteers Gurus, especially when they are given a capital G. Gurus are very special people indeed in the Hindu and Sikh traditions. The founder of the Sikhs was a Guru, and that title is given to each of the first ten leaders of the Sikh religion. The h2g2 use of the term could well be offensive to Hindus and Sikhs, which I am quite sure is not what is intended at all. I would have preferred a more neutral term such as Mentor, Helper, Guide or Instructor. You could even argue that these terms are more easily understood than Guru.

Thats a very good Point, Belshazzar...

The other thing is, it would be kind of a massive task to change all the dates from AD to CE... and it probably won't make it clearer.

I wasn't thinking of a massive overhaul, just a little point for consideration when the powers that be consider the rules.

Hi Fadookie,

In this case I agree with Belshazzar and J'au-æmne: I don't think the terms BCE and CE are commonly understood, and using them would leave readers confused. I like the idea though.

Anna

I don't expect this to change anything, but I'd like to add a vote in favour of BCE/CE - after all, lots of other websites use it, seemingly with no problem. If used consistently, I don't think it'd confuse many people. A guide entry that explains the meaning would help, of course.

*shrug*
-Martin

Would it be okay to use the CE/BCE system (which I prefer) if you put in a little footnote to explain to people who don't use it what it's about? It personally think of it as meaning (Before) Christian Era, rather than "Common", so perhaps we'd have to reach agreement on that as well.

It can be either, but judging from various online dictionaries (eg http://www.acronymfinder.com) 'Before Common Era' is more common, though 'Before Christian Era' is an alternative. It's in dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster Abridged, so it's a totally valid English word.

The obvious thing is to write a guide entry on the two acronyms, and then if you want to use BCE/CE in your Edited Entries you can just say
1452 BCE.

The other thing to me is, rightly or wrongly, our dating system *is* before and after Christ - or as near as the guy who invented it could get it - so BC and AD are technically correct, even if not PC.

AD meaning 'The Year of Our Lord'? Well he isn't my lord, nor the lord of most people in the world, so technically correct it ain't.

I agree! Oh, and leg, the Second acronym kinda defeats the whole purpose.

I'm not trying to bring a big change upon the guide standards, but I thought I'd tip some peopel off to the fact that not everyone agrees with the current date system.

Shorah- Erm, I mean Peace evereyone

(Catch me over on mystcommunity.com to see how hard back-and-forth posting can be)

Why does "Christian Era" defeat the whole object? "Before Christ" requires that you accept that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. "Before the Christian Era" merely requires you to accept that Christianity has existed since that time -- it could just as easily mean "their" era as "ours". After all, if you wanted, for whatever reason, to date something according to the Jewish or Islamic calenders what would you use for "Common"? "Less common"? "Common in Israel?" Or would you have to be a Jew or Muslim before you could use them at all?

I think the idea is that the BCE/CE date system is no longer used purely (or even mostly) by christians, and is now the common international date system - hence a *common* era. It would be accurate to talk about (say) the Chinese date system, because that date system is used only by the Chinese (with a few exceptions, no doubt).

But both viewpoints are valid.

I think the idea is that the BCE/CE date system is no longer used purely (or even mostly) by christians, and is now the common international date system - hence a *common* era. It would be accurate to talk about (say) the Chinese date system, because that date system is used only by the Chinese (with a few exceptions, no doubt).

But both viewpoints are valid.

I must admit, I've never seen the point of the CE/BCE system, I used it when studying religion at college, but the system still uses the before Christ/after Christ split, so what's the point? You're still using a Christian event to mark the date change. So why not call a spade a spade?

Let's get everything in prospective here... In the first place, there is a lot of confusion anyway about when christ was born, with some saying it could be +/- 25 years to what we traditionally think of it. BCE/CE should, in my humble opinion, replace the terms BC/AD, just as black replaced n****r/coloured (i'm sorry to use these words, really i am, but i'm trying to empathise a point). Continuing using a phrase just because it's always been used isn't neccassarily the right way to go.... ok, the use of BC/AD isn't that bad, but still, let's consider changing it, eh?
Oberon2001 (sorry for going off on one).

I'm glad people have strong points for both sides of the issue.
Oberon, I agree, as we're not sure wither the BC-->AD switch actually hinged on the birth of Jesus. This is even more support for the fact that the terms BC and AD are not only politically incorrect, but irrelevant. (Just for clarification, the C i use stands for common.)

Note: Sane people may wish to proceed immediately to the concluding paragraph.

Lucinda makes a good point. The BCE/CE is probably the most widespread dating sytem, which makes it a good standard dating sytem.
I would like to add that most calendars have some root in religion, The Jewish and Mayan calendars from their respective "dates of creation", the BC/AD on the birth of Jesus, etc. It is undoutable that the absoulute starts of these calendars are skewed, as the jewish calendar states creation happened around 5600 years ago, and according to the Maya, around a century short of 2,000,000 days i think (some hasty mental math at midnight), but it is undeniable that the BCE/CE calendar started about 2003 years ago. (more midnight math- blecch, logic! ). Giving a definite point of reference in time that is verifiable by simple math (unless you're fadookie). So, the BCE/CE calendar is more useful because we're not presiscely sure when the universe as we know it came into existence, or if and when it will end, so BCE/CE is more flexible.
There, now I feel better (even though that did not help prove my point or do anything useful at all).

Of course, there's always the option of simply changing the meaning, such as BC= Before Calendar, AD= After Date, etc

Please excuse my incoherency and spelling errors, I'm
-FTF