Wednesday, January 07, 2009

It's Hard to Keep Up

Somebody somewhere keeps changing things and not telling me. I was going about my business comfortable in the knowledge that Bombay still existed until that appalling attack on the city late last year made it clear to be that it was now Mumbai.

Last night I was reading an improving article in the New York Review of Books and started coming upon chronological references to CE and BCE where I expected to see AD and BC. So I headed for Wikipedia and too my astonishment discovered that these designations were now obsolete - political correctness frowns upon them, they are de trop, redundant, dead as the dodo. CE stands for Common Era and BCE for Before Common Era. If you're feeling flighty and irresponsible you can substitute Christian Era and Before Christian Era - but beware the consequences.