In South Korea, “international age” refers to the number of years since a person was born, and starts at zero – the same system used in most other countries.
But when asked their age in informal settings, most South Koreans will answer with their “Korean age,” which could be one or even two years older than their international age.
Under this system, which has its roots in China, babies are considered a year old on the day they’re born, with a year added every January 1.
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Even with the new standardization, the old systems will still be used in some circumstances, the government said on Wednesday.
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Laws on age-restricted products like alcohol or tobacco will also be based on the year someone is born, regardless of month. This means two people born in January and December 1990 are judged to be the same age.
Wait, I am missing the logic for being born two years old Edit: ah never mind, I get it. If you're born December 31st, you're born one year old, and a year added every January 1, then tomorrow...
“Korean age,” which could be one or even two years older [...] Under this system, which has its roots in China, babies are considered a year old on the day they’re born
Wait, I am missing the logic for being born two years old
Edit: ah never mind, I get it. If you're born December 31st, you're born one year old, and a year added every January 1, then tomorrow you're two years old, having come out of a womb yesterday.
It's kind of like counting "how many years have you been alive in." If you were born December 31st 2022, you participated in 2022. On January 1st, you get another year for participating in 2023. I...
It's kind of like counting "how many years have you been alive in." If you were born December 31st 2022, you participated in 2022. On January 1st, you get another year for participating in 2023.
I don't care one way or another about this, more power to them, however they want to do dates. I do wonder if there are any academic impacts – i.e., could you wind up competing on exams with kids a year older than you? I guess that does kind of happen in some cases no matter how you do the dates.
When you're born, you begin your "first" zodiac cycle and at the new year, you begin your second zodiac cycle and so on. This is how a baby born December 31st can be "2" the next day.
I'm reminded of the Machineries of Empire trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee, which is space opera where technology somehow works by getting lots of people to follow the same calendar. People go to war over...
I'm reminded of the Machineries of Empire trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee, which is space opera where technology somehow works by getting lots of people to follow the same calendar. People go to war over calendars.
He is American-born but attended high school in Seoul, so it checks out.
I only vaguely recall that I liked it. It’s about galactic empire and cultural imperialism. The mathematics is only a theme; you don’t need to know any math.
I only vaguely recall that I liked it. It’s about galactic empire and cultural imperialism. The mathematics is only a theme; you don’t need to know any math.
Can someone explain how and why the old system existed? It doesn’t really make much sense. My layman’s understanding is they’re just deciding that after 9 months in the womb…we’ll just round up to...
Can someone explain how and why the old system existed? It doesn’t really make much sense. My layman’s understanding is they’re just deciding that after 9 months in the womb…we’ll just round up to a year and then you’re 2 as soon as it’s Jan 1st so that people born in the same year can all be equal peers exactly the same age.
It's originally a custom that comes from China. The Chinese believe(d) that counting the number of basically zodiac cycles you've lived through is important to determining your fate. This spread...
It's originally a custom that comes from China. The Chinese believe(d) that counting the number of basically zodiac cycles you've lived through is important to determining your fate. This spread to nearby Asian countries like Japan and Korea. When you're born, you begin your "first" zodiac cycle and at the new year, you begin your second zodiac cycle and so on. This is how a baby born December 31st can be "2" the next day.
Of course, some things have changed (no longer using the lunar new year etc).
I kind of view it as just the opposite of how age is tallied elsewhere. It's not a label of how many years old you are, it's a label of what year of yours it is. The quirky part comes from...
I kind of view it as just the opposite of how age is tallied elsewhere. It's not a label of how many years old you are, it's a label of what year of yours it is. The quirky part comes from everyone's "birthday" (the day the year counter ticks over) happening on the same day on the first of the year.
More "you are in the first [second, third, ...] year of your life" instead of "you are zero [1, 2, ...] years (and some change) old"
This is just speculation, but consider that celebrating individual birthdays all year round is different than having collective coming-of-age celebrations, like happens at graduations. People also...
This is just speculation, but consider that celebrating individual birthdays all year round is different than having collective coming-of-age celebrations, like happens at graduations. People also talk about “sixth graders” or “sophomores” collectively, even though they’re slightly different ages. The school year is more important for kids than other calendars. In some rough sense, kids in a later grade are older, kids in the same grade are the same age, and kids in an earlier grade are younger.
Suppose your age were based on your first day of school? That seems similar to counting age based on a big celebration at the start of each new year. This celebration is the start of everyone’s new year, so years are counted from that celebration, not from birth dates. Babies start with a partial birth year that goes from whenever they were born to the beginning of their first full year, which has four seasons and starts in winter, like it should. The partial birth year is their first year and the first full year is the second year, and so on.
Maybe there were practical reasons for that? How many celebrations can a poor community afford? If you combine celebrations, you can have a bigger party. Sometimes there are even collective weddings. It’s a way to save money.
Maybe we should ask where the tradition of celebrating birthdays individually came from? It’s sort of like having your own personal calendar, with its own years, that’s not synced with other important community events like the seasons. If it weren’t a cultural tradition, celebrating your own birthday all by yourself might seem a bit sad and lonely, or perhaps like making too big a deal of yourself by inventing your own fake holiday.
I’m also reminded of the convention in some places of having leases all expire on the same date. Moving Day is a tradition in Quebec and it used to be a tradition in New York City. Everyone moving on the same day sounds like a big hassle to me, but it probably has some advantages.
Contrast with the convention of having your driver’s license expire on your birthday. This is a method of spreading the workload evenly all year round at the DMV. Nowadays that’s more important than being in sync with the seasons. If the DMV only operated part of the year, though, things would be different.
The cultural history is probably lost in the mists of time, but it would be interesting if historians found evidence of such origins.
In addition to all the replies I'd also like to add that it helps with a culture based a lot on respect for elders. I've heard many conversations from my friends that are "more Korean" figure out...
In addition to all the replies I'd also like to add that it helps with a culture based a lot on respect for elders. I've heard many conversations from my friends that are "more Korean" figure out who their hyungs (older brothers) were based on year. If they were in the same year it's easier for them to see each other as on an equal playing field.
From the article:
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Wait, I am missing the logic for being born two years old
Edit: ah never mind, I get it. If you're born December 31st, you're born one year old, and a year added every January 1, then tomorrow you're two years old, having come out of a womb yesterday.
It's kind of like counting "how many years have you been alive in." If you were born December 31st 2022, you participated in 2022. On January 1st, you get another year for participating in 2023.
I don't care one way or another about this, more power to them, however they want to do dates. I do wonder if there are any academic impacts – i.e., could you wind up competing on exams with kids a year older than you? I guess that does kind of happen in some cases no matter how you do the dates.
Source: @paper_reactor
I'm reminded of the Machineries of Empire trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee, which is space opera where technology somehow works by getting lots of people to follow the same calendar. People go to war over calendars.
He is American-born but attended high school in Seoul, so it checks out.
These books are great. I loved the calendrical swords that showed “the date and hour of your death!”
I’ve never heard of this series. Wikipedia says it’s a mathematics themed book, so that doesn’t sound exciting to me.
What do you think?
I only vaguely recall that I liked it. It’s about galactic empire and cultural imperialism. The mathematics is only a theme; you don’t need to know any math.
Ah cool, thanks
Can someone explain how and why the old system existed? It doesn’t really make much sense. My layman’s understanding is they’re just deciding that after 9 months in the womb…we’ll just round up to a year and then you’re 2 as soon as it’s Jan 1st so that people born in the same year can all be equal peers exactly the same age.
It's originally a custom that comes from China. The Chinese believe(d) that counting the number of basically zodiac cycles you've lived through is important to determining your fate. This spread to nearby Asian countries like Japan and Korea. When you're born, you begin your "first" zodiac cycle and at the new year, you begin your second zodiac cycle and so on. This is how a baby born December 31st can be "2" the next day.
Of course, some things have changed (no longer using the lunar new year etc).
I kind of view it as just the opposite of how age is tallied elsewhere. It's not a label of how many years old you are, it's a label of what year of yours it is. The quirky part comes from everyone's "birthday" (the day the year counter ticks over) happening on the same day on the first of the year.
More "you are in the first [second, third, ...] year of your life" instead of "you are zero [1, 2, ...] years (and some change) old"
"In their Xth year" used to be very commonly used, nowadays you really only see it in obituaries for old people but it's still around.
This is just speculation, but consider that celebrating individual birthdays all year round is different than having collective coming-of-age celebrations, like happens at graduations. People also talk about “sixth graders” or “sophomores” collectively, even though they’re slightly different ages. The school year is more important for kids than other calendars. In some rough sense, kids in a later grade are older, kids in the same grade are the same age, and kids in an earlier grade are younger.
Suppose your age were based on your first day of school? That seems similar to counting age based on a big celebration at the start of each new year. This celebration is the start of everyone’s new year, so years are counted from that celebration, not from birth dates. Babies start with a partial birth year that goes from whenever they were born to the beginning of their first full year, which has four seasons and starts in winter, like it should. The partial birth year is their first year and the first full year is the second year, and so on.
Maybe there were practical reasons for that? How many celebrations can a poor community afford? If you combine celebrations, you can have a bigger party. Sometimes there are even collective weddings. It’s a way to save money.
Maybe we should ask where the tradition of celebrating birthdays individually came from? It’s sort of like having your own personal calendar, with its own years, that’s not synced with other important community events like the seasons. If it weren’t a cultural tradition, celebrating your own birthday all by yourself might seem a bit sad and lonely, or perhaps like making too big a deal of yourself by inventing your own fake holiday.
I’m also reminded of the convention in some places of having leases all expire on the same date. Moving Day is a tradition in Quebec and it used to be a tradition in New York City. Everyone moving on the same day sounds like a big hassle to me, but it probably has some advantages.
Contrast with the convention of having your driver’s license expire on your birthday. This is a method of spreading the workload evenly all year round at the DMV. Nowadays that’s more important than being in sync with the seasons. If the DMV only operated part of the year, though, things would be different.
The cultural history is probably lost in the mists of time, but it would be interesting if historians found evidence of such origins.
In addition to all the replies I'd also like to add that it helps with a culture based a lot on respect for elders. I've heard many conversations from my friends that are "more Korean" figure out who their hyungs (older brothers) were based on year. If they were in the same year it's easier for them to see each other as on an equal playing field.