BC/AD or BCE/CE?

Am I the only person in the world who finds myself mildly disgruntled by the upsurge in the level of political correctness in the world today? The latest thing to have me shaking my head in disbelief is the BC/AD or BCE/CE debate. Perhaps I have been asleep for several years but the other day I heard that some folk no longer refer to 'the 4th Century BC' but rather 'the 4th Century BCE' . That is to say Before the Common Era. They don't say 'the year 79 AD' but rather 'the year 79 CE', ie the year 79 in the Common Era. Who thought that one up? Apparently it started in the 1980's - clearly not been publicised too well then, eh? But is it really so offensive to people to use the birth of Jesus as a point of reference for time? Yeah, yeah, before anyone starts to get all pedantic with me, I know that we are about 4 years out with the dating of the actual event but that is not the point. The point is that historically we have used this system for a long, long time in the western world. Like it or not, our cultural heritage is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. Fact. Why change it now? If in other parts of the world people have their own calendar system which works for them, great. I have no problem with that at all. But why fix something which isn't broken? It's like trying to change the names of the months - "well, people who don't worship Roman gods might find it offensive, so from now on we are going to call January 'Aardvark'. March will be 'Colander'..." The fact is, it is custom and practice. Do the PC brigade really think that they are making the world a better place by littering our language with euphemisms? Euphemisms do not change the reality of the world in which we live, they merely obscure meaning. The net result of all this is that we are rapidly ceasing to communicate. Like politicians, we are generating lots words but saying very little. If you want to really upset people, the best way is to muck about with their language - I cite the Basques and the Welsh as examples. The humourless, prissy behaviour of the PC brigade only causes bad feeling.

Saying chalkboard instead of blackboard, word shower instead of brainstorm, and 'before the common era' instead of 'before Christ' does not make people more tolerant; only meeting people, learning to lunderstand them and valuing them for who they are, in all of their glorious and beautiful diversity, will do that.

There. I've had my grumpy old woman moment - apologies if that statement sounds ageist, sexist and emotionist!!