A COMMON ERROR
Sir,-Your correspondent, John Doe, in his letter headed "An Explanation" (in The Listener of March 14), made this statement: "A man is 21 years of age on the day preceding his 21st birthday." John Doe hereby joins the ranks of the mistaken legion who are in the habit of saying that a man, or woman, comes of age on his or her 21st birthday, May I, gently but firmly, point out, Mr. Editor, for the benefit of John Doe and others, that an individual’s first birthday is the day he or she is born. Consequently, what John Doe should have said is that a man is 21 years of age on the day preceding his 22nd birthday, or, alternatively, on the day pre-
| ceding the 21st anniversary of his birth. —
L. D.
AUSTIN
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19410418.2.9.1
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 95, 18 April 1941, Page 4
Word count
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137A COMMON ERROR New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 95, 18 April 1941, Page 4
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