And, I do like you, too, greeneyes, but you are either a master disruptor or hopelessly mistaken. I think the latter, and I remain hopeful for your redemption.
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Since I had already stopped with this discussion, I don’t know why in the world you had to drag me back in. I am not a master disruptor, and I think any review of my history would show that-I rarely argue on and on about stuff. State my opinion, but rarely get into a lengthy discussion. And I frankly don’t care for that mischaracterization of me.
Nor am I hopelessly mistaken. I am a mathematician and accountant, so tend to be precise with respect to numbers, and perhaps more precise than I should be-but you are the one that started this again.
The point I originally was trying to make was that saying someone was living in their 90th decade when they were only in their 70s brought to mind a 90 year old.
Further more, I care not one whit whether you start the decade on 1/1/2020 or 1/1/2021. What you can NOT do is to count both the first year and the 10th year.
If you start your decade on 1/1/2020, then the decade ends on 12/31/2029. If you start the decade on 1/1/2021 then that decade ends on 12/31/2930. In the example I first responded to, the starting and ending decades were counted yielding an extra decade.
Or to use another example, If you decide your newborn let’s say, born today is 1 year old, then 1/2/2029 they will be 10 —having only been alive for 9 years.
Actually they do something similar to this for race horses. That’s why some of the 3 yr old horses are really only 2 yrs. plus in the races for 3 yr. olds.
The expression—the 60s 70s etc. is non precise and really depends on how the person you are talking to defines a decade.
And either way is acceptable to me, though to be accurate, and considering the passage of time, it is more correct to say the decade starts when 12/31/2020 hits the midnight hour.
Now are you going to let this go, or continue arguing?
Your confusion is you are trying to apply math to a linguistic construct. Language has definitions. Math has solutions. You refuse to recognize the distinction. And excuse me, now I have to scream.