# Finish this sentence please **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843 "2025-12-18T23:12:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/21 "2025-12-19T02:00:09Z")
“The Aristocrats!” ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/22 "2025-12-19T02:05:45Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, century by century, millennia by millennia… …the gate is straight, deep and wide, break on through to the other side! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/23 "2025-12-19T02:07:27Z")
… And thereby hangs a tale. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/24 "2025-12-19T04:24:34Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Kalpa by kalpa. > > If I remember this concept correctly, a kalpa is the length of time it takes for a condor flapping its wings to gently brush a mountain over and over every day until the mountain is ground to dust. Hmmm, I don’t think you remember the concept correctly, or else the source you saw was mixing up a poetic figure of speech with a formal quantitative definition. The kalpa is formally defined in classical Indian cosmology as a period of 4,320,000,000 years. Yes, that period can be broken down into standard subunits such as mahayugas or manvantaras. But there’s nothing more intrinsically weird about its structure than about defining a century as 100 years or a millennium as 1000 years. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/25 "2025-12-19T06:20:09Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Og7-6YubuS4/hqdefault.jpg "1972 - 1993 Days of Our Lives open") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og7-6YubuS4) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/26 "2025-12-19T11:37:41Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, century by century, millennia by millennia… Why did we switch to plural at the end? Shouldn’t it be “millennium by millennium”? (Or, if we’re going the other way, “Hours by hours, days by days…”) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/27 "2025-12-19T12:38:04Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, century by century, millennia by millennia… …until the heat-death of the universe. THE END ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/28 "2025-12-19T12:46:43Z")
Every episode seemed to last a Kalpa. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/29 "2025-12-19T13:01:12Z")
Days of our Lives was my first thought as well. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/30 "2025-12-19T13:09:06Z")
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7227850248645823771 ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/31 "2025-12-19T13:38:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s reasonable for the OP to ask us to _continue_ the sentence. Because of the way numbers work we’ll never _finish_ it. No, and that’s why he’s snickering over his morning coffee at this very moment! LOL ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/32 "2025-12-19T13:40:59Z")
_…creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time._ ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/33 "2025-12-19T13:42:37Z")
…I have awaited a question. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/34 "2025-12-19T14:23:29Z")
…gonna make this garden grow. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/35 "2025-12-19T15:28:19Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Hmmm, I don’t think you remember the concept correctly, or else the source you saw was mixing up a poetic figure of speech with a formal quantitative definition. Yes, it was a poetic figure of speech. I can’t remember the original source, but it came from my Zen teacher. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/36 "2025-12-19T19:56:00Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > > [@Grrr](#): > > > > … millennia by millennia… > > Shouldn’t this be “millennium by millennium” ? > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@Grrr](#): > > > > Hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, century by century, millennia by millennia… > > Why did we switch to plural at the end? Shouldn’t it be “millennium by millennium”? (Or, if we’re going the other way, “Hours by hours, days by days…”) And here is proof that history moves in circles. Those who fail to study it are doomed to repeat it. 😉 … and the beat goes on. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pEmX5HR9ZxU/hqdefault.jpg "The Whispers - "And The Beat Goes On" (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEmX5HR9ZxU) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/37 "2025-12-20T02:27:39Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > The kalpa is formally defined in classical Indian cosmology as a period of 4,320,000,000 years. Which, as it turns out, is a surprisingly convenient unit, being approximately both the half-life of uranium-238 and the current age of the Solar System and everything in it. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/38 "2025-12-20T02:36:05Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > The kalpa is formally defined in classical Indian cosmology as a period of 4,320,000,000 years. Is this a modern word/concept someone came up with recently (say…last few hundred years) or a much older word? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/39 "2025-12-20T15:09:52Z")
Much older. The “kalpa=1000 mahayugas” and related chronometrology appears to be part of a late-BCE/early CE synthesis of cosmology and astronomy, with some influence from Hellenistic and Babylonian base-60 period relations models. [The Indologist Luis Gonzalez-Reimann wrote a book.](https://archive.org/details/the-mahbharata-and-the-yugas-luis-gonzalez-reimann) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843/40 "2025-12-20T16:29:35Z")
Wow…I wouldn’t think ancient peoples would be contemplating such big amounts of time. Heck, even today there are some religious nuts who think the earth is only ~6,000 years old. 4.3 billion years is way out of that ballpark. Also, happy cake day! 26 years…one of the ancients! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-this-sentence-please/1025843.md?page=3)