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Re: Zero

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Tuesday, January 4, 2000, 23:41
Muke Tever wrote:
> Actually zero in ages is rare. A newborn child usually gets its age in > weeks or months; instead of 'The child is zero years old' you get something > like 'The child is five months old.'
Right, but "one year old" means "beginning of second year". I seem to remember reading that in China (?), newborns were counted as "1". "Five months old" is basically like saying "zero years, five months old", just as one might say "One year, six months".
> (Didn't think it was a blunder...)
Sorry, the article said that, I should've mentioned that.
> So basically our problem is that our time line isn't a number line, though > _now_ that's what we expect it to be... right?
Makes sense. -- "Old linguists never die - they just come to voiceless stops." - anonymous http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Conlang/W.html http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor