What Decade Is It?

glatt · 01-04-2010, 12:57 PM

There was no year 1. There was no year 10. There was no year 100.

The whole friggin system of naming years was invented in the year that we now call 525 by Dionysius Exiguus. The whole system was invented and applied retroactively to over half a millennium.

The year 1 AD never existed in that name. It was a year that was named after the Roman Consuls of the time and the year of their terms.

So it's not like people were starting the counting at 1 or 0. The counting started at 532.

The 70s are a decade that consists of 1970-1979
The 80s are a decade that consists of 1980-1989
The 90s are a decade that consists of 1990-1999
This is all self evident.

The next decade fucked everyone up and caused all this confusion because nobody knew what to call it, but the new millennium started on 1/1/2000, and this new decade started on 1/1/2010.

I ended up calling last decade the Aughts, which is a dumb name, but I have no idea what to call this decade. The Tensies? I guess we're in the Tweens now and in three years we will be in the Teens.

Happy Monkey · 01-04-2010, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

There was no year 1. There was no year 10. There was no year 100.

It applies to any counting system that starts with one, though.

Quote:

The 70s are a decade that consists of 1970-1979
The 80s are a decade that consists of 1980-1989
The 90s are a decade that consists of 1990-1999
This is all self evident.

Nicknames like that are OK, and a decade can be any ten year period. Heck, it doesn't even need to start on Jan 1! You've been alive a decade when you turn 10, no matter when that was (allowing for leap years, of course). And, like you said, the "teens" won't even be a decade - it will be seven years long.

But if you want "the 20th century" to mean the same thing as "the 1900s", then "the first century" would only be 99 years long.

glatt · 01-04-2010, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

But if you want "the 20th century" to mean the same thing as "the 1900s", then "the first century" would only be 99 years long.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I can live with that. The first century isn't well documented anyway. A little fudging there will be just fine.

DanaC · 01-04-2010, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

I can't speak for anyone else, but I can live with that. The first century isn't well documented anyway. A little fudging there will be just fine.

This!

Scriveyn · 01-05-2010, 08:03 AM

Man's been woken up on New Years Day.
Wife: Oy, wake up, it's 12 o'clock!
Man: No details. What Decade Is It?

View Poll Results: Is 2010 the first, or last, year of a decade
It's the first year of a whole new decade.	12	54.55%
Your brilliant logic tells me it's the last year of the decade.	9	40.91%
Don't you dare argue with your mother, I carried you for 9 months, uphill both ways...	1	4.55%
Voters: 22. You may not vote on this poll

01-04-2010, 12:57 PM	#1
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	There was no year 1. There was no year 10. There was no year 100. The whole friggin system of naming years was invented in the year that we now call 525 by Dionysius Exiguus. The whole system was invented and applied retroactively to over half a millennium. The year 1 AD never existed in that name. It was a year that was named after the Roman Consuls of the time and the year of their terms. So it's not like people were starting the counting at 1 or 0. The counting started at 532. The 70s are a decade that consists of 1970-1979 The 80s are a decade that consists of 1980-1989 The 90s are a decade that consists of 1990-1999 This is all self evident. The next decade fucked everyone up and caused all this confusion because nobody knew what to call it, but the new millennium started on 1/1/2000, and this new decade started on 1/1/2010. I ended up calling last decade the Aughts, which is a dumb name, but I have no idea what to call this decade. The Tensies? I guess we're in the Tweens now and in three years we will be in the Teens.

01-05-2010, 08:03 AM	#5
Scriveyn amnesic-confabulatory opsimath Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Between my ears Posts: 739	Man's been woken up on New Years Day. Wife: Oy, wake up, it's 12 o'clock! Man: No details. What Decade Is It?

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