For saying it’s not chapter 9, actually

[GrumpyDullard]

On Facebook, a friend has posted “Here’s to chapter 9” on her DD’s 9th birthday. I keep seeing this - e.g. recently “here’s to chapter 27!” on a 27th birthday.

They’re all wrong. Chapter 1 starts when you’re born. Chapter 2 is 1-2. So Chapter 10 starts on your 9th birthday and chapter 28 starts on your 27th.

I’m not saying anything on Facebook, of course, but come on! It’s obvious, isn’t it?!

Never seen this form of words but totally agree.

Had a friend who challenged herself to run a marathon in her thirtieth year. So when she was 29 plus up to 364 days. So many people thought she meant at the age of 30. Which would be her 31st year.

rehashing all that was said on the subject in 1999😁

Unless she meant 'here's to a great chapter 9 having been completed'.

Yes, that would be understandable, but the 27th birthday one was actually something along the lines of “can’t wait to see what happens in Chapter 27!”

It has occurred to me that I’ve only seen 3 people post this chapter nonsense, and they all live in the same town, so it could be a local phenomenon.

Ridiculous phrasing anyway. Each year isn't a chapter.

Well, it depends. In China when you're born you're regarded as being a year old already.

But anywhere else - you're not wrong, OP.

No you aren’t. You’re regarded as being in your first year, which you clearly are…

What? Need a diagram

People change age at Chinese new years not on what would be called birthday.

Oh! Thank you!

Unless 0-1 is the prologue... 🤣

Yes. This is obviously the answer. Thank you.

People change age at Chinese new years not on what would be called birthday.

What???? So everyone has the same 'birthday', all 1.412 billion? That's one way to stamp out any sense of individuality.

Did they use to to this before the charming communist regime?

Traditional counting
In the past, the Chinese emperors did not number their years from one place. Instead, they gave names to eras (groups of years) any time they wanted. Since they still changed its number at every new year festival, the first year of a new era might only be a few days long. One example of this is the "1st year of Kaiyuan" during the Tang, which lasted a week or so in 713 AD. In the same way, people in China and around East Asia did not count their ages from zero or add one year at every birthday. They counted birth as the start of their 1st year and added another year upon the 7th day of the New Year, which they called People's Day (Rénrì). This came from an old story about how a goddess named Nüwa made all the animals. The day she made people was used as the common birthday for everyone. In this way, people sometimes called a baby who born on the 6th day of the New Year a 2-year-old only a few hours after its birth. (Today, it is much more common in China to count age starting at zero and add years at birthdays, like in English-speaking countries.)

That's so interesting and confusing @CyberCritical