Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

I loathe them for that.

I found the Wikipedia article interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era

Snippets:

   The term "Common Era" is traced back in English to its appearance as
   "Vulgar Era" (from the Latin word vulgus, the common people, i.e.
   those who are not royalty), to distinguish it from the regnal dating
   systems typically used in national law. The first use of the Latin
   equivalent (vulgaris aerae) discovered so far was in a 1615 book by
   Johannes Kepler.
   ....

   The English phrase "common Era" appears at least as early as
   1708, and in a 1715 book on astronomy is used interchangeably with
   "Christian Era" and "Vulgar Era"
   ....

   Some Jewish academics were already using the CE and BCE
   abbreviations by the mid-19th century, such as in 1856, when Rabbi
   and historian, Morris Jacob Raphall used the abbreviation in his
   book, Post-Biblical History of The Jews

   Although Jews have their own Hebrew calendar, they often find it
   necessary to use the Gregorian Calendar as well. The reasons for
   some using Common Era notation are described below:

     Jews do not generally use the words "A.D." and "B.C." to refer to
     the years on the Gregorian calendar. "A.D." means "the year of our
     L-rd," and we do not believe Jesus is the L-rd. Instead, we use
     the abbreviations C.E. (Common or Christian Era) and B.C.E.
     (Before the Common Era).

   Indeed, Common Era notation has also been in use for Hebrew lessons
   for "more than a century".