Philip Hart wrote: #> Thanks, you know these things so I don't have to. I have to retreat to #> "more like 20 Earth-years than 10" ... I answered: #> You don't need to say "Earth-years". Earth years and Dragaeran years #> are the same length: He replied: #Short-hand for equivalent-years-in-an-Earthling's-lifetime... # #Of course 20-30 to 1 doesn't exactly cut it - a <200-year-old may already #be at least a famous flirt (e.g., Jenicor) while at 500 Aliera and #Morollan are "young" but Adron seems to be a grown-up... Oh, is that what you meant? It totally confused me, then, because (obviously) I foolishly thought "Earth-years" meant "years of planet Earth" as opposed to "years of planet Dragaera". At least to a science-fiction reader this is the most obvious reading by far. I suppose you were thinking of something like "dog years", where a dog who is three years old is equated to age 21 in human years. For what you mean I suggest "Easterner years" or "Earthling years". -- Mark A. Mandel http://cracksandshards.com a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]