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

Entry: Birthdays - A54734565
Author: Elentari - U202814

My attempt at a good old-fashioned collaborative entry.

EGWW thread here: F14244679?thread=6844577

To use or discard as you wish:

Some countries (I don't know the full list) don't count birthdays the same eg a baby born on 28 Sept 2008 would now be 2! (second year started)

I thought 'teenagers' was only in English-speaking countries (because of 'teen' on the numbers)

For me 'Jehovah's Witnesses' is an example of a religion not a culture.

Name day ('onomastico' in Italian) is also celebrated in Italy, France and perhaps other Roman Catholic countries too.

As you wish to have this entry non-UK-centric perhaps you should mention that the 'Queen' if the British queen.

Without wishing to appear too critical, IMHO this Entry seems to focus on the UK and Germany with a few 'bits' from abroad. Did you consider making it UK-centric with a few asides, rather than attempting a world view.

Am I mistaken (or possibly crazy ) or did Toybox have a conversation thread on this subject? (I seem to remember more special ages being mentioned.)

Hope you find these comments of use and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m44z-223UYE

Wasn't it a thread which had started in ask?

Hi Toybox !

I thought it was your thread in fact. I've no idea how to find old thread except perhaps by trawlin all through ask. Do you remember the name of the thread?

It could have been my thread, but somehow I doubt it. I was quite sure it was called 'Birthdays' or something, but there doesn't appear to have been any thread with this name since april

'special ages' maybe?

'Brithdays'

F19585?thread=6749292

Hi Elentari, good to see this here

<>

should be: "which takes place"

and footnote 4 is adrift (sorry, got subbie hat on)

I like this entry, well done!

GB

>>I thought 'teenagers' was only in English-speaking countries (because of 'teen' on the numbers)>>

In Swedish (and possibly other Scandinavian languages) the word for teenager is 'tonåring' (which I suppose might be translated as ton-'yearling') because of the numbers 13-19 ending with 'ton', i.e. 'tretton', 'fjorton' (13, 14).

I'm also wondering if it might be possible to somehow include a link to the h2g2 Researchers' Birthday Page A293195

That could possibly be placed in a blockquote, (worth a try)

"Without wishing to appear too critical, IMHO this Entry seems to focus on the UK and Germany with a few 'bits' from abroad. Did you consider making it UK-centric with a few asides, rather than attempting a world view."

That's because it was mostly Ukers and Mala who commented on the thread! I added a few more in yesterday before I submitted it further, but it's the sort of thing that requires first-hand knowledge - you can't really go and look it up in a book (although I will have a look in the library this weekend).

I did read one interesting thing about birthdays in Vietnam, which was that no-one celebrates the anniversary of the exact day they were born. Instead, everyone celebrates their birthdays on Tet, which is their new year. I didn't include it though, because I couldn't find corroboration.

I've heard that too. I think it was something mentioned in a programme about Vietnam..

.. Was this your reference about it?

http://www.birthdaycelebrations.net/vietnamesebirthdays.htm

I think the Happy Birthday song is worldwide? In Spain the tune is sung to the words ' cumpleaños feliz ' (happy birthday)

British and Spanish birthday parties seem to be getting more and more competitive, and I guess the same is true in the States? Parents often have to have a themed event, hiring a venue or entertainers. The cake has to be sensational ( well at least to look at ) and the invited guests have to all go home with a party bag of goodies.

Is it still considered rude to ask a woman's age? Or are we more happy these days to admit we have passed our fiftieth birthday?

My mum has just had her 79th birthday and the more decades that pass, the greater the celebrations. Next year will be a real blow out party. However, one of my sisters is in denial about her age and has recently knocked a few years off her total. This leaves the whole family happy, as we all have to play along and adjust our ages relatively, as she says 'she doesn't want to be 50 quite yet'.

Lanzababy ( now a few years younger than she thought)

My Mum is 90 tomorrow!

Sending Congratulations! Is she happy to be 90? It is a real achievement.

although the queen + british monarchy have their offical b'days in the summer, in general, most recent monarchs have actually had their b'days in the summer anyway.

Edward VIII was 23 june 1894
George V was 3 June 1865
Victoria was 24 May 1819
William IV was 21 August 1765
George IV was 12 August 1762
George III was 4 June 1738
George I was 28 May 1660


also, the offical b'day is celebrated with the b'day honours list and in british missions and stuff, they have the day off

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. I'll be back later to respond.

Adulthood is 20 in Japan, although there is some talk of lowering it to 18. 20 is also the age for (legally) smoking and drinking. http://jcch.com/japanese-traditions.asp#birth gives some more info on 'special' ages. The 'kanreki'section gives some stuff on traditional clothing.

'Civil' (regular) adulthood is 19 in Algeria .
'Civil' adulthood is 18 in China, but the legal age for marriage is 20 for females and 22 for males.

Still i can't help wondering whether it wouldn't be better to be more focussed on a single country (or comparing 2 or 3).

Good luck with this entry

I think I tend to agree with nsb eagle - how about writing it from a UK perspective and then where there are real differences ( or for that matter striking similarities from a very different cultural group)

Otherwise you will end up with a long list of disparate facts, and these types of entries tend to turn the reader away.