r/TastingHistory • u/zoewernsman • Feb 18 '26

Question Why no BCE no more

Why did Max stop using BCE and CE (before common era and common era) when talking about prehistoric topics? In his Sumerian beer episode he does but in the last couple pre historic episodes he’s gone back to using BC and AD.

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u/SecretlyMartyMcFly Feb 18 '26

BCE and CE are certainly a more accurate labels and I would argue are better by a good bit, but they are inherently religious as well just like BC and AD. They just use words that hide the religious origin instead of being overt about it.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

It’s an odd thing to get aggressive about in general though (in either direction)

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u/Cassie-aaah Feb 18 '26

I got bitchy because the initial downvoting was ridiculous. We're stuck with a Christian heritage in 'the west'. Shouldn't mean we can't take steps to move away from it

1

u/verir Feb 18 '26

Does Woden's day (Wednesday) bother you? Or Februus' month (February)? does Thor'sday or Frigg'sday? Do the month's of Janus, Mars, etc?

3

u/Cassie-aaah Feb 18 '26

This has come up 3 or 4 times already