4 ms·

Also for the superstitious there would always be Friday the 13th

by tehaugmenter 12y ago

johnnyo 12y ago
Easy fix, just start the month on a Monday instead of a Sunday
- someear 12y ago
  but then there would never be a Friday the 13th, which is also a problem. When would Hollywood release all its horror movies?
  - Pxtl 12y ago
    Won't somebody please think of the bikers!?
- vorg 12y ago
  Starting the week on Monday seems more common than Sunday for most countries, I believe France does. And China and Japan name their days literally "Day 1" for Monday, ... "Day 6" for Saturday, and "Day Sun" for Sunday.
  - MichaelBurge 12y ago
    This is wrong. Saturday in Japanese is 土曜日, which is like "Earth day". There's also "Sun day"(Sunday), "Moon day"(Monday), "Fire day"(Tuesday), "Water day"(Wednesday), "Tree day"(Thursday), "Gold day"(Friday), "Earth day"(Saturday). So your claim is wrong in Japanese for every day except Sunday. If you see something written like 四日("4 day"), this refers to the day of the month not the day of the week(for Japanese).
    - vorg 12y ago
      Chinese uses the numbers for days of the week, so 星期一,星期二,星期三,星期四,星期五,星期六,星期日 for Monday to Sunday. They can use 周 or 礼拜 instead of 星期. I remembered Japanese copied the Chinese at something there, but, whoops, it was the names of the planets that were copied. So the Chinese names of Mars(火星), Mercury(水星), Jupiter(木星), Venus(金星), and Saturn(土星) are copied onto the same days as planets that Romance languages name their days after.
      - saraid216 12y ago
        FYI, 日 is not "seven". It's "sun" or "day". It's almost like someone had a sense of humor when they named that day. My interpretation has always been that 日 is meant to represent "zero", but I never put any thought into why they didn't just call it 星期零.
        vorg 12y ago
        "星期日" is generally written Chinese, but in speech Chinese say "星期天" where 天 could mean "God" when the 7-day week was copied from "Christian" Europe. I just found http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowchin.html http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowchin.html to explain the history of Chinese and Japanese day names in detail. I've noticed while living in China that, whereas Westerners like me virtually always remember what day of week it is but often forget the date in the month, Chinese are more likely to remember the day of the month and forget the day of the week.
        saraid216 12y ago
        Ah. I grew up in a Cantonese-speaking Christian family in America, so I've never heard 星期天 used in speech at all. Confusingly, the "seven luminaries" system in that article aren't just referencing the planets: they're also the names of Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth. I did get that sorted out by looking up Western alchemical ordering for the planets, which is in the same order. Wikipedia helpfully provides a table that includes the old names for the planets as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_planet#East_Asia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_planet#East_Asia
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]

Also for the superstitious there would always be Friday the 13th

johnnyo 12y ago

Easy fix, just start the month on a Monday instead of a Sunday

someear 12y ago
but then there would never be a Friday the 13th, which is also a problem. When would Hollywood release all its horror movies?
- Pxtl 12y ago
  Won't somebody please think of the bikers!?
vorg 12y ago
Starting the week on Monday seems more common than Sunday for most countries, I believe France does. And China and Japan name their days literally "Day 1" for Monday, ... "Day 6" for Saturday, and "Day Sun" for Sunday.
- MichaelBurge 12y ago
  This is wrong. Saturday in Japanese is 土曜日, which is like "Earth day". There's also "Sun day"(Sunday), "Moon day"(Monday), "Fire day"(Tuesday), "Water day"(Wednesday), "Tree day"(Thursday), "Gold day"(Friday), "Earth day"(Saturday). So your claim is wrong in Japanese for every day except Sunday. If you see something written like 四日("4 day"), this refers to the day of the month not the day of the week(for Japanese).
  - vorg 12y ago
    Chinese uses the numbers for days of the week, so 星期一,星期二,星期三,星期四,星期五,星期六,星期日 for Monday to Sunday. They can use 周 or 礼拜 instead of 星期. I remembered Japanese copied the Chinese at something there, but, whoops, it was the names of the planets that were copied. So the Chinese names of Mars(火星), Mercury(水星), Jupiter(木星), Venus(金星), and Saturn(土星) are copied onto the same days as planets that Romance languages name their days after.
    - saraid216 12y ago
      FYI, 日 is not "seven". It's "sun" or "day". It's almost like someone had a sense of humor when they named that day. My interpretation has always been that 日 is meant to represent "zero", but I never put any thought into why they didn't just call it 星期零.
      - vorg 12y ago
        "星期日" is generally written Chinese, but in speech Chinese say "星期天" where 天 could mean "God" when the 7-day week was copied from "Christian" Europe. I just found http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowchin.html http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowchin.html to explain the history of Chinese and Japanese day names in detail. I've noticed while living in China that, whereas Westerners like me virtually always remember what day of week it is but often forget the date in the month, Chinese are more likely to remember the day of the month and forget the day of the week.
        saraid216 12y ago
        Ah. I grew up in a Cantonese-speaking Christian family in America, so I've never heard 星期天 used in speech at all. Confusingly, the "seven luminaries" system in that article aren't just referencing the planets: they're also the names of Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth. I did get that sorted out by looking up Western alchemical ordering for the planets, which is in the same order. Wikipedia helpfully provides a table that includes the old names for the planets as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_planet#East_Asia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_planet#East_Asia
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]