I actually remember similar debates being made as we rang in 1980 :). I don’t remember much of a ruckus when 1990 rolled around; but, the purests were back in 2000.
When you but an oldies cd, its for the ‘fifties’, to include 1950. When people look back at the decade, they include 2000. Its a pop culture definition, not a mathmatical definition.
And if a decade is strictly speaking a 10 year period, what does it matter what year we start counting at. Why not start at 5. Its not like the news commentators are saying ‘this is the end of the 200th decade since the birth of Christ’. They are just saying its a new decade...as they count it. I for one will now measure decades with 2009 as my starting point, to commemorate the New Messiah and Almighty Purple Lipped Saviour.
The year 2009 ends 10 years of years beginning in 2000. It is the last year of the first decade of the 2000s.
nothing new here... yet 99% of the world is confused by this
Okay, I get it, but by this logic you would also say that a 20-year-old is in his teens or a 50-year-old is in his forties. Base-10 system and all, we just don’t do it. IMO, this is a case where the intuitive, practical understanding of the general public has got to trump the esoteric mathematical correctness of a few ultra-literal snobs.
I also say it will be “twenty-ten” not “two-thousand and ten” ... as in “nineteen-ten” not “one-thousand nine hundred and ten” the way the media morons would say it ...
>> The year 1 A.D. ended one year after the birth of Christ.
When did it begin?
I am in total agreement as to decimal numbers, I still have a hard time with AM starting at 12 then running 1 through 11...
Regards,
GtG
Glad to know that the year 2000 was part of the 90’s....
The author is in denial.
I agree it only seems like it should be about 2003, but no, we are in a new decade and the decade digit is about to flip.
(The author just doesn’t want to admit he’s getting old.)
When does a year begin? For some it begins on January 1. But a school year begins usually sometime in September. Fiscal years begin almost anytime. The astronomical year begins at the Vernal Equinox (in March).
A decade, a set of ten years, can begin anytime too. So the first decade of the 2000s ends tonight. And the 201st decade since the time reckoned as the birth of Jesus doesn't end for another year.
ML/NJ
Yeah, and it’s like another big misconception about the “Blue Moon” being tonight. Actually it won’t be a “Blue Moon” until around November of 2010, and not tonight... :-)
But..., will anyone care to get the facts straight? LOL...
The year 1 A.D. ended one year after the birth of Christ.
What do you call that year that transpired after the birth of Christ?.... He lived and accumalted one year of age month by month. His life began at birth, started at zero, and one later He was one year old. He wasn’t just then starting his first year of life.
Did you hear Walter Williams try to enlighten the flatlander who argued against this being the end of decade? We went through this at the turn of 2000.
A decade is any 10 years, this clown is wrong!!!
This is dumb.
A person is 1 year old when they’ve put 12 months behind them.
A person is 10 years old when they’ve completed 10 years.
2010 is 10 years after 2000. And I’m going to consider it to end of one decade, and the beginning of another.
Some column headings will have mm/dd/ccyy to indicate for you to enter the 4 digit year which should properly be yyyy not ccyy. The line of thinking is cc=20 yy=09 when actually it’s the 21st century.
ccyy = 2109 (as of 12/31/2009)
yyyy = 2009 (as of 12/21/2009)
So don’t call it a decade. It’s the time when, for the next ten years the date will end with 201_.
Call it whatever you want. the odometer is turning over.
Happy New Year.
Thanks for a little truth telling. Even I know that the new decade doesn’t start tomorrow. That makes me smarter that most of the idiots on TV today!