It was Jess' turn to feel chagrined that his reactions were hindering understanding rather than helping it. He didn't know what to make of the bits and pieces he gathered Thorfinn was saying about the ancient Danish invasion, but letting his surprise and confusion get the better of him wouldn't do any good. He took a second to think out his reply before opening his mouth again.
"I meant Common Era," he clarified once it became clear Thorfinn thought he was skipping letters in the English alphabet. How to put this so he wasn't just blathering off meaningless terms? "'C' stands for Common. 'E' for Era. It's a date. A year. 1013 is a year. Right?"
Jess couldn't possibly begin to see how it could be, but this was the second time someone had given him a number that made him double-take. First Peggy with 1947, and now this. Once is a random happenstance, twice is a pattern.
To tie Jess' brain in a further knot, Thorfinn obviously recognized the historical figures history, except he referenced them from a present point of view, which didn't make any sense considering that had all happened before even the Norman Conquest. But Jess couldn't deny that Thorfinn also obviously had a basic understanding of English. Enough to differentiate between past and present tense. He didn't think he could pin the confusion on a simple mistake of language.
Meaning what? Thorfinn didn't just look like a Viking, he'd been bumming around with them in the eleventh century?
"That happened a long, long time ago. Centuries ago."
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"I meant Common Era," he clarified once it became clear Thorfinn thought he was skipping letters in the English alphabet. How to put this so he wasn't just blathering off meaningless terms? "'C' stands for Common. 'E' for Era. It's a date. A year. 1013 is a year. Right?"
Jess couldn't possibly begin to see how it could be, but this was the second time someone had given him a number that made him double-take. First Peggy with 1947, and now this. Once is a random happenstance, twice is a pattern.
To tie Jess' brain in a further knot, Thorfinn obviously recognized the historical figures history, except he referenced them from a present point of view, which didn't make any sense considering that had all happened before even the Norman Conquest. But Jess couldn't deny that Thorfinn also obviously had a basic understanding of English. Enough to differentiate between past and present tense. He didn't think he could pin the confusion on a simple mistake of language.
Meaning what? Thorfinn didn't just look like a Viking, he'd been bumming around with them in the eleventh century?
"That happened a long, long time ago. Centuries ago."