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What's in a name?

T

T. Foster

SOC-13
Has anyone else ever been bothered by the fact that 2300 AD while colloquially acceptable, is actually grammatically incorrect? It should, of course, be AD 2300. It's slightly embarrassing to admit since it surely makes me look like the worst kind of anal-retentive pedant, but this actually does kinda bother me, to the point that I almost always refer to the game as Traveller:2300, T:2300, or just 2300 instead of by its "real" name.

In case anyone's curious, I'm also a little bothered by the British comic 2000 AD, but somehow not quite so much (I guess because "2000 AD" is a more common colloquial expression, or maybe just because when I first discovered 2000 AD as a kid I didn't know the correct form yet).

And while I'm on the subject, I barely dare mention that in modern academic circles the title should properly be 2300 CE anyway (CE standing for "of the Common Era," the use of AD ("in the year of Our Lord") having been declared un-PC a couple decades back and faded into obsolesence among all but the most stubborn reactionaries).

Please accept my humblest apologies for having brought this up. Really.
 
Not surprising. In fact, I strongly suspect it's gonna turn out that I'm the only one who's ever given this even a second of thought
 
I'm from the Uk, and started reading 2000 AD when it first came out (I was just seven, so I was really just looking at the pictures). So, that's probably part of the reason it doesn't bother me.

Also, I've never referred to 2300 AD as that. It's always 'Twenty Three Hundred', I never bother with the AD part unless I'm describing the difference between Traveller 2300 and the second edition. In fact, if anything, I probably called it T2300 more than 2300AD.
 
Having the 'AD' first or second really doesn't bother me much. Include me with the "stubborn reactionaries" if you like, but if a new edition came out called 2300 CE , I would refuse to buy it.
 
Originally posted by Captain Tylor:
Having the 'AD' first or second really doesn't bother me much. Include me with the "stubborn reactionaries" if you like, but if a new edition came out called 2300 CE , I would refuse to buy it.
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I'm sure you're not the only one, and the fan backlash would probably make even TNE's look tame. Hell, I'd snicker and take potshots and I'm the one who suggested it. :D I'm not calling for actual changes, just musing idly. If I were to suggest a change, though, it would be to officially change the name to 2300 and leave it at that. That would alleviate my grammatical unease and match what most people seem to use in practice anyway.
 
For 20 years, I've never complained that the Traveller universe is completely flat; I shan't diss on whether or not we call it AD 2300 or 2300 AD.

As far as I know, the English no longer call public laws The Statute of 13 Elizabeth or The Statute of 4 George III, so I'll live with this.
 
2300 AD rolls of the tongue more easily than AD 2300. Besides, 2300 AD sounds more like a game of adventure while AD 2300 sounds like a discourse on history.

Now, having said that, people can call the game anything they like, it doesn't bother me one bit. When speaking of the game I simply call it 2300 and in writing adventures I actually call it TRAVELLER: 2300. Go figure! :D
 
In common parlance, AD is often used after the date, not before. It is often written as such in books as well. I think it trips better off the tongue. Therefore I think the game's name is just fine. I also refer to it as 2300!

Oh, and it doesn't matter.
 
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