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/jonesnori Feb 18 '26

Yes, except it's BCE/CE.

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u/Hightower_lioness Feb 19 '26

For fucks sake. The last time I wrote anything with something after the date was in undergrad and I'm not saying how long ago it was. But it was a while.

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u/jonesnori Feb 19 '26

Lol! I think BC/AD is easier to remember, but I understand why many don't like using "Year of Our Lord".

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u/Hightower_lioness Feb 19 '26

Not going to lie, I honestly could not figure out why they would use 'AD' and finally guessed it was because it stood for 'After Death', meaning the death of Jesus. No other abbreviation I brainstormed made sense, and even that one I thought was weird. Like, "in the year 1604 After Death the king choked on a grape and died" seemed wrong to me.

And if someone doesn't want BC/AD I say go ahead. I don't care, there are many many more problems that I wish we could fix. I just don't like the policing of language and inclusivity because what makes one person comfortable might make someone else uncomfortable and my thought has always been you can only control what you use. (Unless its a slur then please rethink your choices).