Comment by throw-the-towel
5 months ago
Notation is ultimately arbitrary, it's just what everyone has agreed on.
(As a fun fact, Spanish has decided to use X for Wednesday because both Wednesday and Tuesday start with the same letter, M: https://www.20minutos.es/cultura/blogs/yaestaellistoquetodol...)
I learned a while back that Miercoles is a minced oath in Spanish. As in, you start to say the other thing that starts with Mier--, make eye contact with a child, and say the other thing.
The same exists in French with Mer...credi
I can confirm, my wife uses this all the time
I think you may need to review what that word means in case you have an incorrect belief about its definition. Almost all notation ever created has a reason or a system, I have no idea why one would think its ultimately arbitrary (having no reason or system).
Consensus is not arbitrary either, that's a strong reason, a lack of arbitrary-ness. Even the second definition of arbitrary, something done unilaterally, is contra-consensus.
Isn’t it possible thst there could be multiple , equally systematic, candidate notations. Isn’t the decision as to which one gains traction arbitrary?