why it be called Land Before Time?

[cool person]

have question 4 u! why it be called Land Before Time? what, time not existing b4 when dinosaries was? it be confusing to me

 hoping u understanding queston, thanks you and gods bless.  

[Kor]

It could be that the folks who made the movie thought that would be a catchy title.  It can also be before mammals and birds were the main dominant life forms, instead of dinosaurs since during the time of the dinosaurs mammals were mainly shrew sized and birds had either not evolved yet or maybe only a few.

[Malte279]

I think in many translations to other languages the title is changed slightly because it is difficult to get the gist of the English title across in other languages. The German title would translate to the slightly more specific "In a land before our time".

[Mumbling]

The Dutch title would translate to "The land before we started counting the years", so pretty much before humans were around So I think Malte is right.

[jansenov]

The phrase "before time" is a hyperbole, and it is supposed to mean a great, immeasurably distant age. Hyperbole is a figure of speech, and figures of speech as used to make a sentence more unusual, making it easier to remember (this is the reason why this title was made), or to say more in less words, which is useful for refering to common knowledge in epic poetry for example.

Oh, and in Croatian it is translated as "Land of the distant past", while in Serbian it appears as both "Land of the distant past", and "Land before time".

[jansenov]

Upon further examination "before time" is both a hyperbole and an oxymoron, which makes it doubly interesting. A very clever title.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Good question! Crazy that no one has brought it up yet!

Personally, I always thought it meant "before time was really understood". But it's made pretty clear in all the movies that it is.

Do you know the first movie was originally going to be called "The Land Before Time Began"? I actually like that better. I think that's what they should name the possible CGI remake. (Which is just a theory now, but could happen some day! )

[cool person]

It could be that the folks who made the movie thought that would be a catchy title. It can also be before mammals and birds were the main dominant life forms, instead of dinosaurs since during the time of the dinosaurs mammals were mainly shrew sized and birds had either not evolved yet or maybe only a few.

true,kor. mammels came after dinosaries

I think in many translations to other languages the title is changed slightly because it is difficult to get the gist of the English title across in other languages. The German title would translate to the slightly more specific "In a land before our time".

yes, malta 279, translaton be diffrent in diffrent places.

The Dutch title would translate to "The land before we started counting the years", so pretty much before humans were around So I think Malte is right.

yes, Mubling. malta 279 be right, that be why he be admin with red name text color

The phrase "before time" is a hyperbole, and it is supposed to mean a great, immeasurably distant age. Hyperbole is a figure of speech, and figures of speech as used to make a sentence more unusual, making it easier to remember (this is the reason why this title was made), or to say more in less words, which is useful for refering to common knowledge in epic poetry for example.

Oh, and in Croatian it is translated as "Land of the distant past", while in Serbian it appears as both "Land of the distant past", and "Land before time".

Upon further examination "before time" is both a hyperbole and an oxymoron, which makes it doubly interesting. A very clever title.

sorry but what be hyperbole? and was oxy moron a bad word in english no?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moron

Good question! Crazy that no one has brought it up yet!

Personally, I always thought it meant "before time was really understood". But it's made pretty clear in all the movies that it is.

Do you know the first movie was originally going to be called "The Land Before Time Began"? I actually like that better. I think that's what they should name the possible CGI remake. (Which is just a theory now, but could happen some day! )

thanks you for saying me good queston brute igauondan i thinking title be "The Land Before Humans Being".

[rhombus]

sorry but what be hyperbole? and was oxy moron a bad word in english no?

The word 'oxymoron' has a different meaning from the word 'moron'.  An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory words.  Such as "dark light" or "living dead", for example.  The word 'moron' on the other hand is indeed a bad word in English, referring to a person of low intellect.

Hyperbole refers to the use of exaggeration in language.  It is typically used to create an impression, but the phrase itself is not supposed to be understood literally.  For example, "The Land Before Time" should be understood to refer to a time long ago, and not be understood to refer to a time before time, which makes no sense, as you have already pointed out.

[landbeforetimelover]

I don't know.  I kinda like the name.  But the meaning behind the name is the world before humans.  Time is, after all, a human concept.  So it's technically accurate.

[Dalekdino]

You know it's not called land before time in some country's.

In France it's called Le petit dinosaur (The little dinosaur)

In Holland it's called Platvoet en zijn vriendjes (Flatfoot and his friends)

In Poland Pradawny lad 1: Pierwsza, wielka przygoda (Ancient lad 1: First, the great adventure)

And in Japan it's just called "Littlefoot"