I'm not sure if it is because of the way one of my elementary school teachers chose to write out the days of the week or some conceptualization I developed on my own, but I've always pictured a week in my head like this:
Sunday Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Saturday Friday
A funny not-quite-cyclical-but-kind-of series of days that make up the week, with Saturday and Sunday getting their own special place. Over the years I've asked my friends how they picture a week and no one has ever had this answer or even could relate to my visual. Interestingly, in my previous career this image felt especially relatable as I was always trying to rush through my week to get to the weekend, where I could spend my "real" time, the time that mattered so much more to me, the time separate from the rest.
I really related to the sundial notion of an hour described in the Scientific American article that had variable length depending on the season. This was a byproduct of the tool itself, but to me it is also how time sometimes *feels*. In fact, I often resent modern aspects of time of schedules. A friend once said to me that he can't believe that no matter the weather or occasion, you could go forward 10 years, 20, 50, and if it's a Wednesday we'll probably be indoors and at work.
Two somewhat tangental things:
- I wish the articles talked more about why 7 days per week. There didn't seem to be much of a focus on 7 at all and I'm curious!
- I was surprised to learn that the language of minutes and seconds was first used as a subdivision of degrees, not time. I knew of the terminology but had always assumed that it was first used in the time sense, likely because that is just the order in which I learned the usages. How very me-centric to think the terms must have developed chronologically to how I learned them!
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