Brian M. Scott wrote:
On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:36:07 +1100, Peter Moylan
gro.nalyomp@retep wrote in
.au in
sci.lang,alt.usage.english,sci.astro:

Tak To wrote:

Brian M. Scott wrote:

[...]

I much prefer 'CE' to 'AD', and yes, I do take it to stand
for 'Common Era': that was how I learnt it in the first
place.

I prefer something like "Common Year" to "Common Era". The former
is more like a convention/scale/unit (cf "Celsius") whereas the
latter implies that there was/is a common recognition about
"the era".

It seems to me that the choice between "Christian" and "Common" is a
minor detail compared with the glaring inappropriateness of the word
"Era". Surely that means a span of years, with a beginning and an end.

That is only one meaning. Another is 'a fixed point in time
from which a series of years is reckoned', and yet another
-- the one in use here -- is 'a system of chronological
notation computed from a given date as basis'.

It's all confused by the way the Americans pronounce it: "error" to
non-rhotic ears.


--

Rob Bannister