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South Koreans become younger overnight after country scraps 'Korean age' | CNN (edition.cnn.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (10 children)

babies are considered a year old on the day they’re born

Is there any useful idea behind this? That sounds completely dumb.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 years ago (9 children)

It's just semantics. When you are born, you are in your first year of life, not your zeroth year of life. After a full year, you are one year old. Grammar varies from language to language, and sometimes one feels more natural.

Imagine everyone in English said "I'm in my 32nd year" instead of "I'm 31 years old." Now you meet a foreigner who says the opposite. Translation issues abound!

[–] Ataraxia 2 points 2 years ago

That's not a birth day. It's an inaccurate conception day and for most of it we weren't alive yet.

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