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Sometimes I think that you may not movie up an age on you "birthday", I sometimes think that you movie up an age the next year. I mean, how can you get old on a day that you were born when you actually might not be that age when that day comes.
Birthdays are only a chronological markers of how many times the planet has made a complete rotation around the Sun. It has nothing to do with aging. We constantly and gradually age from conception to death. Time and aging have no distinct points.
Birthdays are only a chronological markers of how many times the planet has made a complete rotation around the Sun. It has nothing to do with aging. We constantly and gradually age from conception to death. Time and aging have no distinct points.
My grandfather used to (accurately) say on his birthday: "I have attained the age of 72."
When one is born, one starts at 0 time ~ at least of being in the world ~ and so after one year, the child has attained the age of 1. I've also heard it said as having attained to the age. . .
Saying attained an age is just making it clear. People don't really understand that you turn one on your second birthday. Your first birthday is the day you are born.
Thus on your 30th birthday, you are 29 years old. Almost always you'll hear this used incorrectly.
Saying attained an age is just making it clear. People don't really understand that you turn one on your second birthday. Your first birthday is the day you are born.
Thus on your 30th birthday, you are 29 years old. Almost always you'll hear this used incorrectly.
That's the traditional reckoning in much of East Asia. In Western reckoning, the 1st birthday is marked as the completion of the first year. Neither one is incorrect. It's a cultural difference in view. The East Asian form of counting birthdays does have its advantages. You can get a drivers licence a year earlier, etc.
That's the traditional reckoning in much of East Asia. In Western reckoning, the 1st birthday is marked as the completion of the first year. Neither one is incorrect.
Fair enough. Our western way is messed up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NightBazaar
It's a cultural difference in view. The East Asian form of counting birthdays does have its advantages. You can get a drivers licence a year earlier, etc.
Yes it does, but it depends on a blending of views. I was being a bit humorous, but technically, it's still valid. If your culture counts age one beginning at the competion of the first year, but you adopt a culture that counts age one as beginning on the day you were born, there's a difference of one year between the views. Assuming that you'd qualify for a drivers licence at age 16 (or any other age), then a person who counts age one at the completion of the first year, will be 15 in a culture who counts age one from the day of birth. As you yourself said, "Thus on your 30th birthday, you are 29 years old."
Been through it all before. My wife is from Asia, where age 1 is considered to begin at the moment of birth. But to qualify for residency and a social security card in the US, while the calendar date of her birth was the same, she lost a year because of the culturally different views of counting age. In other words, she lost a year with respect to age count.
By the same reckoning, in terms of adjusting for cultural differences, a person in the West who is age 15 would be considered to be age 16 in East Asia. It has nothing to do with the numbers, it has to do with whether the count of the first birthday is marked at birth or is marked at the completion of the first year, and that's precisely where the differences are.
My point was, as I stated, neither system is incorrect because the only difference is where you set the marker to begin an age count. That's a difference of views which is based on culture. The same thing applies to measuring temperatures. For example, in Farenheit, freezing is marked at 32 degrees. But in Celsius, freezing is marked at zero degrees. It just depends on what counting system you're using.
If you're 20 by Western standards but considered 21 by East Asian Standards, try going into a bar in the US, show your ID and see if they'll serve you. Messed up or not, that's how it is. But I agree, it can be a hassle.
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