Posted on 01/02/2020 7:13:09 AM PST by BDParrish
YouGov, a digital global public opinion company, noted that this is a relatively recent debate so earlier this month it conducted a survey. Of the more than 13,500 people who responded, 64% of Americans said the next decade will begin on Jan. 1, 2020, and end on Dec. 31, 2029. Seventeen percent said the next decade won’t start until Jan. 1, 2021. And 19% weren’t sure. (snip)
Perhaps the reason the majority say the 20s begin tonight as soon as Seacrest shows us the Times Square ball dropping — it’s already done so in Australia — is because culturally we talk about chunks of time, like decades, using words like “the ‘70s, the ‘80s, the ‘90s, the Roaring ‘20s” and this puts an emphasis on the zero’s weight.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
It begins wherever you place the starting point, and ends 10 years later.
The new decade begins at 2021; 2020 is the end of this decade.
so you say
Starting from “zero” point, the tenth year in not completed until the LAST DAY of the tenth year.
Just a peculiarity of the decimal system.
Decades start and end when tradition says they do. Numbers really have nothing to do with it. It’s arbitrary, like January 1 is the start of the new year and not March 3.
It doesn’t matter as long as you hang toilet paper the right way.
LOL....
That is a priority for sure.
Which way is the “right” way?
I think Dear Abby or her sister addressed this...
I know that technically, the decade starts Jan. 1, 2021.
And this is because there was no year zero; our calendar as currently structured counts years from 1 A.D. So the first decade was the year 1 to the year 10. Meaning that years ending in zero will be the end of any decade.
But in popular usage, the decade begins in the years ending in zero and end in the years ending in nine. As we see now, years have switched from being something “teen” so something “twenty”. So in popular usage, we are now in the decade of the twenties.
Can both be right? A decade can be any ten year period.
The decade begins Jan 1, 2020 - because saying “2020 isn’t part of the ‘20s” is stupid.
Everything starts with zero, not 1. I understand that they made a mistake in the first century and made year one the first year AD. But all that really means is that the first century only had 99 years. A 2000-year-old mistake doesn’t mean that we can start counting from the number 1.
I see you cut straight to what really counts!
Somebody might have to tell the programming director of the 80s station I listen to that all those 1980 songs need to be returned to the 70s station.
2021
It is like science. Not based on consensus
The best part of this "debate" (which is just moot court superfluous nonsense) is that it only happens once every ten years -- right at the beginning of each decade. Which means that the "64% of Americans said the next decade will begin on Jan. 1, 2020, and end on Dec. 31, 2029" are correct. Even the 19% who don't know (or care probably) outnumber the cranky minority.
Culturally? It is 2020.
The goofy “well it starts in 2021” is just something to be said to sound aloof to all of the people talking about the “new decade”. The great unsolicited wet blanket.
The calendar has shifted so much over the past 2020 years from a date we dont even have 100% nailed down, it just becomes a pointless to act like 2020 is “the last year of the 2010s”.
Well, since we started with year 1 and not year 0, I say the new decade begins on January 1 of 2021.
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