I wish they'd stop using Roman numerals on TV/film credits - AIBU?

[Defenbaker]

Very small annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but I wish TV and film companies would drop the habit of showing the copyright/production date in Roman numerals. I know that the digital TV guide often shows the year that a film was made, but on the occasion when it doesn't, it can be frustrating to wait for the credits to roll, only to find that the date appears as a row of Roman numerals which often flash by too quickly to convert them into Arabic ("ordinary") numerals.

The BBC is the main culprit, which is even more annoying as it's funded by tax payers through the TV licence. I know most of the Roman numerals, so I'm not completely phased by them, but they make things overly complicated and I think the use of them by a public service provider is somewhat archane in 21st century. In the early days of the BBC, most of its presenters and hierachy were products of the public school system, and had the benefit of a classical education, so their attitude may have been "well, anyone who's had a decent classical/public school education will understand them, and we're not bothered about the rest". Or maybe they just thought Roman numerals looked more elegant? Either way, I wish they'd switch over to "ordinary" Arabic numerals - AIBU?

@ErrolTheDragon DH is a physicist and I'm from a STEM background too and we find it useful to learn new terms and where they're from.

Dd also likes spotting the links between chemical symbols and the Latin/ Greek connection between them.

Roman numerals are very straight forward. Just learn them. Or use google.

• DH is a physicist and I'm from a STEM background too and we find it useful to learn new terms and where they're from.

Dd also likes spotting the links between chemical symbols and the Latin/ Greek connection between them.*

Etymology is often very interesting, but it's easy enough to do that sort of thing without ever having learned Latin or Greek at though.

Tlollj thank you.

LesNanas posted:

"My eight year old did Roman numerals at his very ordinary state school in the recent past, so I think the accusations of elitism are completely misplaced. "

I also learned them at a state school, but that was a long time ago, which might explain why I'd forgotten some of them. I'm surprised that they're still taught as part of the national curriculum, and that so many people get so much pleasure from them. That puts a different light on things.

You also said "why not extend the game to learning them yourself now instead of frothing about obscurantism and elitism on the Internet?"

Like I said, I already learned them, I'd just forgotten a couple as my primary school days were over 40 years ago. Out of curiosity I googled them, job done.

Given the choice I'd prefer the year to be shown in Arabic numbers, but you'll not see any "frothing" from me about it, because as I said in my opening post, it's just a minor annoyance. It's good that others enjoy them though, each to their own.