WTF is up with the notion that Sunday is the first day of the week?

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dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,939
3,918
136
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: dainthomas
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Since when has Monday been considered the "normal" the beginning of the week? :confused:

Since Sunday was part of the "weekend"
Seems pretty logical to me :p

Fair enough, but logic does not a cultural understanding make. :p The accepted US cultural understanding (so far as I have always seen it) is that Sunday is the first day of the week. As others have pointed out just look at pretty much any calendar you pick up.

How old are you? I wonder if it is a generational thing. Everyone I deal with has always considered Monday to be the start and Sunday to be the end.

Then they have never owned or seen a calendar.


Now that was a daft leap.

The only daft leap was made by people who apparently can't read.

See, in English we read from left to right. Here are the days as they are printed on the calendar hanging next to my desk:

Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri Sat

Therefore the obvious conclusion is that the first day is Mon? If your justification is to synchronize it to the "work week", even that is a very recent construct.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,447
133
106
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Since when has Monday been considered the "normal" the beginning of the week? :confused:

Since Sunday was part of the "weekend"
Seems pretty logical to me :p

Fair enough, but logic does not a cultural understanding make. :p The accepted US cultural understanding (so far as I have always seen it) is that Sunday is the first day of the week. As others have pointed out just look at pretty much any calendar you pick up.

How old are you? I wonder if it is a generational thing. Everyone I deal with has always considered Monday to be the start and Sunday to be the end.

Generational difference, interesting hypothesis. I'm 25; how old are you?
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Originally posted by: Turin39789


How old are you? I wonder if it is a generational thing. Everyone I deal with has always considered Monday to be the start and Sunday to be the end.

Generational difference, interesting hypothesis. I'm 25; how old are you?

26. Generational hypothesis fail. :(
 

ivan2

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2000
5,772
0
0
www.heatware.com
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Since when has Monday been considered the "normal" the beginning of the week? :confused:

Since Sunday was part of the "weekend"
Seems pretty logical to me :p

Fair enough, but logic does not a cultural understanding make. :p The accepted US cultural understanding (so far as I have always seen it) is that Sunday is the first day of the week. As others have pointed out just look at pretty much any calendar you pick up.

How old are you? I wonder if it is a generational thing. Everyone I deal with has always considered Monday to be the start and Sunday to be the end.

Generational difference, interesting hypothesis. I'm 25; how old are you?

how are you, s/l/pix?
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Originally posted by: dainthomas
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: dainthomas


Then they have never owned or seen a calendar.


Now that was a daft leap.

The only daft leap was made by people who apparently can't read.

See, in English we read from left to right. Here are the days as they are printed on the calendar hanging next to my desk:

Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri Sat

Therefore the obvious conclusion is that the first day is Mon? If your justification is to synchronize it to the "work week", even that is a very recent construct.


And my one-a-day calendar has a separate page for each day, except for Saturday and Sunday which it groups together as the weekend.

And because this is ATOT someone has to fall back on wiki eventually

Position in the week
According to the Christian count, Sunday is the first day of the week. This is the standard format in the United States, Canada, and Japan.

But in many other cultures, Monday is held to be the first day of the week. For example, Monday is xingqi yi (???) in Chinese, meaning day one of the week. The international standard, ISO 8601, defines Monday as the first day of the week. Its name in Georgian, Greek and Syriac means "first day". Quakers also traditionally refer to Monday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name "Monday". For similar reasons the official liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church refers to Monday as "Feria II". (The Portuguese name for Monday reflects this, as do all the days' names except Saturday and Sunday: the Portuguese word for Monday is segunda-feira.)

Modern culture usually looks at Monday as the beginning of the workweek, as it is typically Monday when adults go back to work and children back to school after the weekend. Thus, Mondays are often seen as a misfortune. In Middle Eastern countries, however, the beginning of the workweek is usually Saturday (Thursday and Friday are observed as the weekend). In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the workweek. Friday is half a work day and Friday night and Saturday are the Sabbath.

So sure it is traditional for Sunday to be the first day, but I don't give a flying fig. As I said, everyone I know considers Monday to be day one, and its daft to assume that they have never seen a calendar. We are fully aware of the outdated tradition and made up our own minds.

 

sao123

Lifer
May 27, 2002
12,653
205
106
Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
And on the seventh day god rested, that day was sunday. its the last day of the week

incorrect... Saturday (the jewish sabbath) is the day god rested...
Judiasm came before christianity.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,891
31,410
146
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: xSauronx
Originally posted by: CPA
Sunday the beginning of the week, driving on the right side of the road, the decimal system, using farenheit instead of celcius, American Football....these things are why I love the US. We set our own course. To hell with everyone else. Seriously.

wut :confused:

I heard those A-rabs use base-6, because they have 6 fingers on each hand.

Or something. :confused:

He might have meant that we use a period as our decimal separator, and other countries use a comma.

or maybe that our "own course" is a hodge-podge of what we adapted from the Brits and pulled out of our asses.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,891
31,410
146
Originally posted by: sao123
Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
And on the seventh day god rested, that day was sunday. its the last day of the week

incorrect... Saturday (the jewish sabbath) is the day god rested...
Judiasm came before christianity.

yup. I love the semi Christians that don't know the derivation of the word "sabbath," or other Christian-borrowed Hebrew terminology. Like God.

But the atheists, well, I guess they have an excuse; though most of them tend to actually read the Bible.
 

Zee

Diamond Member
Nov 27, 1999
5,171
3
76
Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
And on the seventh day god rested, that day was sunday. its the last day of the week

you can't use fiction as a reference idiot
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
I'm still wondering who decided the whole 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour, and 24 hours in a day. Why 60 and not 50 ? or 40 ?
The monthly calendar is screwed up anyway, leap year ? Some months with more days than others, yeah that is easy to keep track of. :confused: Why is October the 10th month, when Oct means 8 ? And December the 12th month when Dec means 10 ?
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,891
31,410
146
Originally posted by: Zee
Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
And on the seventh day god rested, that day was sunday. its the last day of the week

you can't use fiction as a reference idiot

:roll:

if you knew anything, you'd know that the calender is organized based on this. that is the ONLY reference.

but RD is wrong on which day is considered the day of rest. For some reason, RD seems to think that Genesis is part of the New Testament, and soley reflective of Christian belief. It's actually the Talmud, which is Jewish.
 

jdini76

Platinum Member
Mar 16, 2001
2,468
0
0
Originally posted by: RapidSnail
Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
The use of Sunday being the last day is based on the statement in Genisis that God rested on the 7th day - that implied that work began on the first day.

However, the Jewish Sabbath has Sat being the day of rest; Forcing Sunday to be the first day the the Jewish people should be working.

The Romans apparently may have taken the Sun->Sat idea from the Jews while the pure Catholic countries followed the concept of Mon->Sun.

I think Sunday also reflects the Resurrection, and a new beginning in Christian culture.

Genesis is in the Old Testament which is based on the Jewish religion. not sure if that helps.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: xSauronx
Originally posted by: CPA
Sunday the beginning of the week, driving on the right side of the road, the decimal system, using farenheit instead of celcius, American Football....these things are why I love the US. We set our own course. To hell with everyone else. Seriously.

wut :confused:

I heard those A-rabs use base-6, because they have 6 fingers on each hand.

Or something. :confused:

He might have meant that we use a period as our decimal separator, and other countries use a comma.

Actually I meant we used the Imperial system rather than the metric. Man, I effed that one up. :eek:
 

dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,939
3,918
136
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: dainthomas
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: dainthomas


Then they have never owned or seen a calendar.


Now that was a daft leap.

The only daft leap was made by people who apparently can't read.

See, in English we read from left to right. Here are the days as they are printed on the calendar hanging next to my desk:

Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri Sat

Therefore the obvious conclusion is that the first day is Mon? If your justification is to synchronize it to the "work week", even that is a very recent construct.


And my one-a-day calendar has a separate page for each day, except for Saturday and Sunday which it groups together as the weekend.

And because this is ATOT someone has to fall back on wiki eventually

Position in the week
According to the Christian count, Sunday is the first day of the week. This is the standard format in the United States, Canada, and Japan.

But in many other cultures, Monday is held to be the first day of the week. For example, Monday is xingqi yi (???) in Chinese, meaning day one of the week. The international standard, ISO 8601, defines Monday as the first day of the week. Its name in Georgian, Greek and Syriac means "first day". Quakers also traditionally refer to Monday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name "Monday". For similar reasons the official liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church refers to Monday as "Feria II". (The Portuguese name for Monday reflects this, as do all the days' names except Saturday and Sunday: the Portuguese word for Monday is segunda-feira.)

Modern culture usually looks at Monday as the beginning of the workweek, as it is typically Monday when adults go back to work and children back to school after the weekend. Thus, Mondays are often seen as a misfortune. In Middle Eastern countries, however, the beginning of the workweek is usually Saturday (Thursday and Friday are observed as the weekend). In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the workweek. Friday is half a work day and Friday night and Saturday are the Sabbath.

So sure it is traditional for Sunday to be the first day, but I don't give a flying fig. As I said, everyone I know considers Monday to be day one, and its daft to assume that they have never seen a calendar. We are fully aware of the outdated tradition and made up our own minds.

Then so will I. Thursday will now be the first day of my week, thus giving me two days off in the middle of the week. Woohoo! My birthday (March 26th) will also be the first day of the year. All reckoning shall be done from the year of my illustrious birth. Welcome to year 37 AD (Anno Dainthomas).

Wow! Redefining arbitrary social constants is fun! Once I've realigned the months to the solstices, I'll let you know what the new names are.

Edit: If you'd like a month named after yourself or a loved one, I am taking donations!
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,891
31,410
146
Originally posted by: dainthomas

Then so will I. Thursday will now be the first day of my week, thus giving me two days off in the middle of the week. Woohoo! My birthday (March 26th) will also be the first day of the year. All reckoning shall be done from the year of my illustrious birth. Welcome to year 37 AD (Anno Dainthomas).

Wow! Redefining arbitrary social constants is fun! Once I've realigned the months to the solstices, I'll let you know what the new names are.

Edit: If you'd like a month named after yourself or a loved one, I am taking donations!

As long as you promise to do something about that lousy Smarch weather, I'm aboard.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Originally posted by: LilPima
Sunday *is* the beginning of a new week per the Roman calendar. Look at how paper calendars are printed, how computers are set, etc.

*shhhh* you will open a time-space continuum in the geekworld where they insist everyone else they know does it the same way....which really isn't a lie, since they know noone else.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Its all screwed up :)
From the wiki

Sunday: Old English Sunnandæg (pronounced [sun.nan.dæg] or [sun.nan.dæj), meaning "Day of the Sun".
Monday: Old English Monandæg (pronounced [mon.nan.dæg] or [mon.nan.dæj'), meaning "Day of the Moon".
Tuesday: Old English Tiwesdæg (pronounced [ti.wes.dæg] or [ti.wes.dæj], meaning "Tyr's day." Tyr (in Old English, Tiw, Tew or Tiu) was a one-armed god associated with battle and pledges in Norse mythology
Wednesday: Old English Wodnesdæg (pronounced [wo?d.nes.dæg] or [wo?d.nes.dæj) meaning the day of the Germanic god Wodan (later known as Óðinn in among the North Germanic peoples)
Thursday: Old English Þunresdæg (pronounced [?u?n.res.dæg] or [?u?n.res.dæj]), meaning the day of Þunor, commonly known in Modern English as Thor, the god of thunder in Norse Mythology and Germanic Paganism.
Friday: Old English Frigedæg (pronounced [fri.je.dæg] or [fri.je.dæj]), meaning the day of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Frige, and is attesred among the North Germanic peoples as Frigg.
Saturday: the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god Saturn associated with the Titan Cronus, father of Zeus and many Olympians.

Somehow I doubt Christianity had much to do with the naming of the days. That is unless Jesus and the disciples were sun worshipers.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
Originally posted by: Zee
Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
And on the seventh day god rested, that day was sunday. its the last day of the week

you can't use fiction as a reference idiot

FAIL.

Whether you believe in religion or not, its existence and its impact on cultures and calendars is historical fact, you twat.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
4
81
Monday is the first day of the week.

Calendars here are just confused.