2020 Census

Completing the 2020 Census form is boring. There is little room to be playfull. Perhaps that's the intent. Keep it simple. Just the facts. But it's still bor-ring.

I have no idea if everyone has gotten the form so far, but you can respond online. Each form has a special code that you enter that identifies your address. The code looks like an OEM, original equipment manufacture code. No problem, though.

If you can't do that you can have a census person come to the door. But with the covid-19 virus, how much of that will occur is wondered.

Names and ages of people living at the address are asked for. Birth dates are also solicited. The drop-down choices for year of birth go as far back as 1894, meaning you can be 116 years old. That's probably as old as anyone is expected to be. Extreme longevity usually craps out at 114-116 years. The skin goes. You follow.

Gender is asked for, with no ability to indicate non-binary. Several relationship options can be chosen to accommodate virtually every kind of living arrangement with whomever (if anyone) lives in the same household.. If the choice fails to describe your arrangement, there is an Other option.

The only "fun" part I came across was the blank box that asked about your ancestral "origins." I immediately thought of people who have spent money on 23&Me genetic testing and found out they are a certain percentage of Visigoth, or Mongolian horde.

I've never done any genetic testing. I've been content to know my ancestry as far back as the grandparents I've met, or known of from my own parents. That seems to be good enough for me. It stretches back to 1880. There is no burning need for me to find that someone in my family is a direct descendant of Charlemagne, or Alexander the Great. It's not like I'm going to find photos of these people.

So, I was happy to provide as much as Greek, German, Polish for my own origins and Irish, English for my wife. Everybody comes from somewhere, even if they don't know where.

Which brought me back to the form itself and its instructions. There is an ability to take advantage of complying with the census in any of 13 languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, Polish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Japanese.

Extensive, but certainly not all inclusive of even my origins which included two languages not listed: Greek and German. And what about Italian? I can understand leaving out Gaelic covering the Irish origin of my wife. It's pretty hard to find anyone who relies on that language for communication.

So, the 23&Me people will be able to add percentages to their stated origins. The more numbers the better.

I don't know if there is a longer form that some people get that asks more household questions. Years ago I seem to remember you could comply by stating you have a washing machine, a dryer, or some other type of appliance you could use.

Years and years ago after we moved into the house we're in, the first Census for us at the address was in 2000 and they kept insisting there was someone else living at 33½, an address that would denote an outbuilding on the property. There never was, or is, such an out building on the property.

My explanation to the Census taker was that perhaps the prior owners, a husband and wife indicated that the wife's mother lived with them; that this was somehow translated into a ½ address. I offered the Census taker a chance to go back in the yard and see that the shed was not a dwelling. If they wanted to count rakes they were welcome to it. She declined and took my word for it.

I did afterward attached a brass address number to the shed: 33½ just in case they really do want to come back and count those rakes.

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