People around the world are talking about today's date. December 12, 2012 (12-12-12) is considered to be a lucky day by some people, and an unlucky day by others. Some people think the end of the world is coming. Others believe it's the perfect day to get married or play the lottery!
According to the Globe and Mail, there is no English word for a date that has matching numbers like this. As the article suggests, this is likely because this kind of date doesn't come around very often. The Globe and Mail article suggests that this is the last -insert your word for this kind of date- we'll see this century. We won't see another date like this until January 1, 2101.
Despite how rare these dates are, I still think it deserves a word, don't you? * I thought it would be fun to come up with a word that could describe this kind of sequential date. Put your thinking caps on and make some suggestions in the comments below!
What word do you suggest for a date like 12-12-12?
Check out this Wikipedia entry on the number twelve to find out the interesting word origin of this number.
*My daughter was looking up continents last night, and she thought it was interesting that there is no word for a person from Antarctica. Let me know if you know any other words that we need in English! Here are 20 untranslatable words.
Comments
Hi Lovely Nafis,
I read your comment with a great interest, Persians and Turks interacted with each other in the early stages, Pers Empire and Ottoman Empire are the oldest and the most powerful Empires,
Which were being governed by tradition of state.
Nafis, very important point with linguistic you brought, thanks for explaining of the cultural impact of languages which is not only consisted of the words.
I hope to see you soon,
Selma,
Dear Tara, I wrote this: http://my.englishclub.com/profiles/blogs/an-answer-to-tara-s-blog-1...
Hi dear Tara, really? I didn't know it's important. hehehehe...I'll do it even though it's not very clear to me how to write it. I'll do it the way you told me..
Nafis! That is such an interesting comment. Why don't you post it on your blog (with minor edits) so that everyone can read it! I don't want people to miss such interesting thoughts. You could do it as a Q and A. Let me know if you need any help.
Wow,
Nafis dear I loved your comment :)) It was such a close and whole transfer of sense Thank you for perfectly declaration .
Wow! Dear Tara, this blog is so challenging and thought-provoking. Thanks a lot!
I wanted to tease my mind to come up with a word and suddenly, this coming word came to my mind: homonumerical. Then I searched this word to see if it exists or not and to my surprise we have a word similar to this suggesting word by with slightly different letters. The word is homonumeral and then I read its meaning. According to Urban Dictionary, the meaning is the words that match with the numbers on the cell phone...
Then, I thought about what you asked which words we don't have in English. But, I got interested in knowing why we don't have some words in English and remembered what my professor of linguistic said. Once he asked me : "Do you know why we, Canadians, speak quick and frank? It's because of the freezing weather. In old times, world especially in Canada was colder than now, therefore, people could not stay on street for a long time and they had to speak quickly when they meet each other and to say what they wanted right away. So, I think it's really interesting! We do not have some words in English because people did not need to have them or the climate or circumstance was in a way that did not allow to have such things. For me, what really was obvious when fist I immigrate to Canada was the lack of words that we use for complimenting people in my own language and therefore, I always thought uncomfortable because I learned for such a long time in my own language to use those words and not using them made me uncomfortable and I felt I 'm very impolite and cold person, however, gradually, I got used to it and now, it sounds so weird to use those complimenting words. These all are really interesting to me because it shows me that everything is just related to me and how I LIKE to think.
For example, we have something in Farsi, my mother tongue language, we use it to convey our appreciation and our love to someone who is very close to us. If I translate it exactly in English, it would be very disgusting and mean. We say in Farsi: I eat your liver. It is even so funny to translate it in English and means nothing actually. But, in my first language, it means that you are my heart, but instead of heart, we use liver. I guess it is because liver has important role in our body. Of course other organs have important part but I guess Iranians see that organ much more important so that they used that part of the body. I don't know ...hehehehe..I just guess...We have so many of these kinds of words or expressions in my language which we don't have in English and the reason is that Iranians are very emotional people so they have lots of complimenting words. That is why poem in my home country has had an important role. We read poems in our celebrations. We start our lectures by read famous poems. We write poems in our diary. And, some people know many poems by heart.
Now, I can very well understand why language reflects the culture. Thanks a lot for this mind teasing blog and so sorry I talked too much.
@Tara
It's not uncommon for pregnant women (mother-to-be) here in East Asia to have a caesarean at such a nice date. In fact, many women here in China had a caesarean section this year to have a "Dragon baby" - this year is "the Year of the Dragon" which is considered a lucky year in China.
I love all of these suggestions. I was watching the news last night and saw that there were "mass weddings" in Korea. Also, pregnant women were flooding hospitals asking for Caesarean sections! Did you notice that, Expector? :)
Thomas, I love "equiday"! Also, Sahar's suggestion of "homogeneous date" is great!
I wonder how many of us will be around in 88 years to use our new words. :) My son recently asked me to promise him I'd be at his 80th birthday.
Yes, Thomas I got it,
and you good one found out,
cheers
In fact, two of my colleagues got married that day - they were so lucky to get married on such a special day! By the way, they thought they should be married before "the end of the world (Dec. 21)". Most people here don't believe in the prophecy, though.
Some people here call the rare date "happily together" (translated from Chinese - I hope you can get it!)
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