Wanna hear a silly argument? Look no further than yours truly and my girlfriend. Granted, I think this seemingly never-ending debate is/has been conducted in a joking kind of manner. In any case, the more I think about it, the sillier it appears to me. It also reminds me of a similar debate my parents have engaged in for years and in a similar kind of tone.
While I was born on February 28th of 1981, my girlfriend was born on March 19th of 1980. It is my belief that she was, is, and always will be older than I am - by about 11 months. It is my girlfriend's claim that between February 28th and March 18th of every year, we're the same age, yet she's older between March 19th and February 27th. Why is this? Because I'm measuring age with specifics and she's just using years to do so. This is reminiscent of my mother and father. While my mother was born on December 24th of 1954, my father was born on March 29th of 1952. Every December 24th, my father claims that the two of them are only two years apart, before my mother asks when he was born, and then says, "You see? You're almost 3 years older than I am."
My father and girlfriend's argument is, "When someone asks how old you are, what do you say? 32, right? Just the years. So, before I turned 33, we were the same age."
They can keep trying, but the facts are not on their side, unfortunately for them. When someone asks us almost anything about ourselves, how do we respond? With an approximation. When someone asks how tall I am, I respond with, "5'9''ish." Just because another person responds similarly doesn't mean we're exactly the same height. We wouldn't know this bit of information until we were both measured while barefoot and standing straight. The same goes for weight. While I can tell a person I weigh 155ish (lbs.) or so and they may respond with a similar number, we're not going to be able to accurately compare the numbers until we weigh ourselves on the same scale in our birthday suits (with minimal observers hopefully). Lastly, just because two people have the same number of years attached to them doesn't make them exactly the same age. We'd have to look at the two individuals' driver's licenses or birth certificates to find out for certain who is the older of the two. After doing this, however, it'll be mathematically difficult (impossible) for the older of the two parties to convince the younger that he or she is the same age as them during part of the year.
In math equations where we compare two sets of numbers by stating that one is greater than, less than, or equal to another, do we just round numbers to where they're equal, even when they're not? I don't think so.
On that note, when I turned 32, my girlfriend was approximately 32.92, and last I checked, 32.00 < 32.92. When my mother turns 59 this year, my father will be approximately 61.75, which is definitely closer to a 3-year than a 2-year difference.
Okay, class dismissed...
While I was born on February 28th of 1981, my girlfriend was born on March 19th of 1980. It is my belief that she was, is, and always will be older than I am - by about 11 months. It is my girlfriend's claim that between February 28th and March 18th of every year, we're the same age, yet she's older between March 19th and February 27th. Why is this? Because I'm measuring age with specifics and she's just using years to do so. This is reminiscent of my mother and father. While my mother was born on December 24th of 1954, my father was born on March 29th of 1952. Every December 24th, my father claims that the two of them are only two years apart, before my mother asks when he was born, and then says, "You see? You're almost 3 years older than I am."
My father and girlfriend's argument is, "When someone asks how old you are, what do you say? 32, right? Just the years. So, before I turned 33, we were the same age."
They can keep trying, but the facts are not on their side, unfortunately for them. When someone asks us almost anything about ourselves, how do we respond? With an approximation. When someone asks how tall I am, I respond with, "5'9''ish." Just because another person responds similarly doesn't mean we're exactly the same height. We wouldn't know this bit of information until we were both measured while barefoot and standing straight. The same goes for weight. While I can tell a person I weigh 155ish (lbs.) or so and they may respond with a similar number, we're not going to be able to accurately compare the numbers until we weigh ourselves on the same scale in our birthday suits (with minimal observers hopefully). Lastly, just because two people have the same number of years attached to them doesn't make them exactly the same age. We'd have to look at the two individuals' driver's licenses or birth certificates to find out for certain who is the older of the two. After doing this, however, it'll be mathematically difficult (impossible) for the older of the two parties to convince the younger that he or she is the same age as them during part of the year.
In math equations where we compare two sets of numbers by stating that one is greater than, less than, or equal to another, do we just round numbers to where they're equal, even when they're not? I don't think so.
On that note, when I turned 32, my girlfriend was approximately 32.92, and last I checked, 32.00 < 32.92. When my mother turns 59 this year, my father will be approximately 61.75, which is definitely closer to a 3-year than a 2-year difference.
Okay, class dismissed...
Yes I am! ...and uh-huh, sure, sure... :)
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