pynchon-l-digest V1 #674

[EBURNS 351-1-343-2517]

Foax:

for those collecting little snippets of "things connected to pynchon," i
submit:

Robert Chote writing his "economics notebook" in Monday, June 30's
Financial Times, pg 9 of the European edition, on "The Reality of Money
Illusion"

to wit:

"When the Gregorian calnedar was adopted in England in 1752, the switch
meant that September 14 fell immediately after September 2 that year. "Much
discontent was provoked among uneducated people who imagined that they were
being defrauded of the omitted days," according to one account. Mobs rioted
with cries of "give us back our 11 days".

This confusion arose because people found it easier to think in the
"nominal" terms they were used to - in which one day of the month follows
another in numerical order - rather than recognizing the underlying reality
of what "days" measure, namely the passage of time."

To react like this may seem ridiculous with hindsight..."

(rest of it is Chote on how people respond to changes in prices over time,
interesting in its own right but not related)

i'm just curious who that unnamesd account is - any guesses? or has choate
been doing his summer reading like the rest of us?

cheers, Erik