Poll: 'Anno Domini' in other cultures

[Aurora Firestorm]

The question is, why do you care?

Over on another forum, I don't tend to hang around on this one as much now so can't comment, but they reported "Merry Christmas" as religious and inflammatory. And there's a current push in politics to get rid of Christmas. Which is kinda funny considering Santa isn't Christian, he's a Coke marketing gimmick. And a bloody good one.

I use AD and I also say "Merry Christmas" if I do offer a seasons greetings rather than "Happy Holidays" or CE. The only people I've come across who take exception to that are "hardcore" atheists who are looking for an excuse to rag on someone.

Like the homosexual pair (not a couple mind) who went out of their way to go to a hotel in the middle of nowhere that had a policy of "No unmarried couples in the same room/bed". Which is reasonable enough, cuts down on prostitution, keeps them out of any sordid business with secretaries and lawyers. But the pair sued them for discrimination and won. That's what this thread looks like IMO.

Grow up, you're giving the rest of us a bad name.

I agree with the spirit of this post. The Internets love to collectively act like a giant raging atheist and quash any kind of religious wording, ever. It bothers the hell out of me. If you guys are willing to use the name of my chosen deity as a swear word, you better get off your soapbox when I want to say Merry Christmas. There is no excuse for abusing someone's religion like that, and you guys whine at us for having religious-oriented acronym that most of American probably doesn't know what it means?

Tolerance doesn't mean sterilizing everything of any trace of religious history. If instead of "BC" and "AD," there were other acronyms standing for, I don't know, some Chinese religious thing, I wouldn't care. It's just history.

 

[wekill]

most people how go to this site do have at least half a brain you know right

 

[Double A]

I have known what it meant for quite some time. I'm agnostic, but I don't really care, so I use it. I also say "Oh my God." It has become more associated with western culture than religion.

And yes, bagels are awesome.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

I knew what it meant, I have used it and continue to use it though I am not Christian, and I do like bagels.

 

[floppylobster]

The definitive lot of you use the phrase 'Anno Domini' when they write down years (in dates), for example this year is AD 2011.
Anno Domini is latin (and also a short version) for 'in the year of our lord'. This implies that Jesus Christ is your lord, and that you are christian.
What about people that don't believe in Jesus Christ, what do they do?
There is actually a replacement for such people, it's called 'CE' in English, and it means 'Common Era'. 'BC' would be replaced with 'BCE' - Before Common Era.
I want to ask you this -
Did you knew what 'Anno Domini' means?
What will you use now?
And lastly, Do you like bagels?

Sweet Jesus I also use the word Christmas to describe the 25th of December and sometimes use the word Allah to describe the concept of God. I know what Anno Domini stands for. What it means (to me) is entirely up to me. If people didn't get so caught up on trying to spread their own understandings of the meaning of words to each other we might just all get along.

A.D., like most Latin, sounds classy. So I'll continue to use it. And the lord I refer to when I do could just as well be Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber for all it matters.

"Jesus Christ Superstar, do you think you're who they say you are?" Catchy tune.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I know what it means. I actually find it annoying when people change it to CE. We've been using AD for ages, so why change it now? Not like there's anything wrong with it.

Also: if you're going to change the way you write you dates, then you might as well also change the Christian inspired calendar including the days of the week.
And if it were something pertaining to Islam, I doubt we'd care much. It may mean "In the year of our Lord" but so what? Is it forcing you to be religious? No, the people who set it happened to have been Christians living in a time where Christianity was the big boy on the block. Does that make it obsolete? No. It would be obsolete if we entered a new era.
And I don't think I've ever had bagels before.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Bagels are freakin' delicious. We always have bagels in the house.

 

[GLo Jones]

Just because I'm not religious, It doesn't mean I'm going to change my terminology. The use of Anno Domini is more of a cultural landmark nowadays anyway.

 

[mikespoff]

Bagels are awesome, but only of you are in a city where you can find them easily.

Otherwise, the lack of bagels just makes you sad...

 

[mikespoff]

I think you spell Tzar with a 'z'.

Nope it's an S.

Nope, with a "ц." It's spelled Цар, obviously

If you don't know (or have access to) the Cyrillic alphabet, there are two generally accepted English spellings: "Tsar" and "Czar". Either is fine.

 

[aldowyn]

It's not Tsar, or Tzar, or Czar. (Which I have all seen used fairly often. Of course, the book I'm using now spells Genghis "Chingis" for some reason) It's Caesar. Those titles are Russian bastardizations of the original Roman title from when they were busy copying the heck out of the West.

OT: Yes, I knew. Yes, I will continue to use AD in everything except my history class. No, I'm not a big fan of bagels.

I find it interesting that one is more common in some places and one in others. Places that are less Christian/more amenable to change use BCE/CE, maybe? BC/AD is predominant in the US, at least where I am, but the US has never liked to change conventions. Standard/Metric system, anyone?

 

[redisforever]

Yep, knew it. Sorta.
I figured that's what it meant.
Anno-year, like year in French
Domini-like Dio, meaning God in many European languages.

And, I love bagels. But only fresh ones, so the outside is slightly crunchy, and the inside is soft and warm. Mmm...bagels. So far, in Canada, only 1 place I know makes them, right there in the store. It's called What a Bagel.

 

[conflictofinterests]

There is a really good chance we use defunct religious references in our daily lives already. Are the non-Norse people going to get offended at Thursday (Thor's Day), and the non-Roman people going to get offended at Saturday (Saturn's Day)?

In conclusion, I honestly don't give a fuck about calling it AD or CE or what have you. As long as I can understand what the fuck you're talking about, it's all gravy.

Which I suppose you could put on bagels. But I prefer it on biscuits.

 

[Keepitclean]

I knew that. I'm not a Christian but I will still BC and AD it as long as it is the common thing to do. It's not worth causing confusion for something so stupid.

 

[SenorNemo]

I knew what Anno Domini meant.

I also know what AD means, and it's not Anno Domini.

It was once Anno Domini, but it's long since lost that meaning to most people and simply became an arbitrary term used in our calendar system. Speaking as an agnostic Jewish-by-culture guy, who happens to write about history quite a bit as well, I have no problem using AD. Maybe there are people out there who still think of it as "Anno Domini," but those people aren't me, and they probably aren't people I'll end up speaking about history with.

Oh, and bagels are fracking AWESOME! Well, quality bagels are, not those crappy bagels you find at most cafeterias and supermarkets and stuff.

Switch to CE, what you are doing is religiously inappropriate.

I'm not religious. Like I said, I'm a good, respectable agnostic, with heavy leanings towards atheism lol. Besides, wasn't the point I just made that "AD" isn't religious anymore?

You have a christmas tree too don't you?

It's religious.

And you owe it to your heritage to be more respectful not to use a term like that.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree, I guess. Not that you don't bring up good points, but I just don't see AD as having any sort of religious meaning anymore. For that matter, we might as well start using CE, and in fact, I have used CE for classes before, but AD has become so ingrained that I find it unlikely CE will fall into the vernacular the same way AD has for a long time. Until then, I use the two interchangeably. But yes, I see where you're coming from.

 

[sagacious]

eh, I figure the religious connotation to the calendar is just a cultural thing now. Just because you use AD doesn't mean you have to be a christian, just like you don't have to worship the roman gods to appreciate astronomy, or know latin to use scientific names for things.

 

[Macgyvercas]

As a science major, I tend towards using BCE and CE. Sounds somewhat better.

 

[Merkavar]

personally i think all this BCE and CE stuff is a load of PC bull. our date system is based around the birth of christ. I dont care if he exists or not or if you believe in him or not thats how the date system works. i dont see why people should have a problem with bc or ad.

 

[thecoreyhlltt]

i didn't know that, i knew about the whole C.E. and B.C.E thing but not A.D.
huh, you do find wisdom in strange places.

 

[randomsix]

In Islamic countries you can also go from Mohammad's flight from Mecca.