Watch out for the step that isn't there

[mbarker]

One conversation the other night with our pregnant neighbor surprised me. I had asked how many months along she was, and she said eight months. I looked at her profile and commented that she didn't seem big enough. Then I asked when the baby was due -- and she said mid or late October.

I counted on my mental fingers, and then did it again, and said, "Wait, don't you mean you're seven months pregnant?" She shook her head, then smiled.

"Oh, that's right. I heard that Americans count it differently. Traditionally, Japan says it takes ten months and ten days to have a baby. So I'm eight months pregnant, and have about two more months to go."

She agrees that it is really about 9 months for a pregnancy, but apparently the traditional count is 10 months. We speculated that perhaps this was due to counting lunar months, although neither of us was very sure about that. After all, 9 thirty-day months is about 270 days, while 10 twenty-eight day months is 280 -- pretty close?

So I learned that it's better to ask when the baby is due. I wonder if other countries estimate the length of pregnancy differently.

Comments

[dialyn.livejournal.com]

I was waiting to cross the street many years ago, and a man came up beside me and asked me if I was pregnant.

I said, "no," and he said, "well, I can fix that."

You have never seen anyone move so fast across a busy street as I did that day. In fact, I walked out of my shoe in my rush to get away from him.

So there are worst questions than the one you asked.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Eep! Now that's creepy. Definitely a worse question (or suggestion).