Re: CHAT: Happy Birthday (was Re: Re: Uglossia and Utopia)

Ed Heil <edheil@...> wrote:
>=20
> And I'll be thirty on October 4 (the feast of St. Francis!), so I'm a
> third agemate.
OK, I have to say Boudewijn didn't know but I was just 23
on the *same day* he was 30 (this Friday 24!). So that's four
of us near the equinox...

So happy birthday to you all. And a happy Spring to the minority
of us in the Southern hemisphere. (Nevermind if it's raining and
hail is forecasted for the night, as it is here...)

AFMCL, people celebrate their 'whole years' more than their
actual birthdays; that is, they celebrate on New Year's Day.
So age is the important issue. Decades are especially
celebrated, as well as several other important ages. For
their ten years, children are greeted like this:

        Gian  stadduth  famp i thanen!
        2sPSS ten-year  now  * joy
        'Joy on your ten-year!'

Other words for ages are _skaladduth_ 'twenty-year',
_murstadduth_ 'thirty-year', etc., plus the _d=E9nqesduth_,
which is for 16-year boys (it means 'become-a-man's year'),
and _=F3aiduth_ ('year of knowledge') for 15-year girls.
Details on this goes to conculture...

As a result, it's more important to remember the age of a
friend or acquaintance than the actual date of birth, since
one has to greet properly. A wrong age in the greeting might
be insulting.

=20
--Pablo Flores
  http://draseleq.conlang.org/pablo-david/