Okay the question of a decade, which years constitute a Decade?

[BOSSHOG]

[Toots]

1. 2000 to 2009 "The Reign of Error"

:shrug: does it really matter?

[malaise]

2. The thing is that if you get the millennium wrong

it's clear you'll have the decade wrong as well. The last millennium ended in 2000 not 1999.

[Pab Sungenis]

14. No, the standards are different for both

The decades are classified by the second to last digit; the millennium (and centuries) are tallies of the number of years.

The 21st century is 2001-2100.
The third millennium is 2001-3000.
The aughts were 2000-2009.
The teens will be 2010-2019.
And so on.

[malaise]

15. Is that British, American or

international?

[Pab Sungenis]

20. The century is international standard.

Decades have no standard definition, so the prevailing one (0-9) applies.

[H2O Man]

3. Other.

The first ten. Always.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. The anal-retentive sticklers for accuracy in all things

will insist that the years 2001-2010 comprise the decade - and I hope their bleatings subside quicker than those who insisted on trying to spoil millennial celebrations 10 years ago.

Besides, decades aren't always defined by actual calendar years anyway. For instance, who would insist that 1961 had more in common with 1969 than it did with 1955? Societal shifts occur without regard to decade.

[hobbit709]

5. Decade is simply ten-so any ten years is a decade

The Roaring 20's were 1920 to 1929. The sixties didn't include 1970

[hlthe2b]

8. Exactly... The "ZERO" decade should be 2000-2009

[tmyers09]

9. EXACTLY!

You wouldn't consider 1990 to be in the 80's, would you?

[invictus]

6. 2001-2010

[dmallind]

7. Technical and useful =/= same.

For example everybody with basic physics knows that what most people call centrifugal force is actually centripetal. Well sure people who count decades starting from the (cavalierly placed and guesswork) year 1 CE know that succeeding decades start with a 1 too. But hardly anybody but pedantic curmudgeons uses this technicality in general discourse just like the centripetal example. It's much easier to communicate in terms that are understood, and the law of NRN tells you a decade in the calendar-changing sense (as has been notesd, 1975-1984 is a decade too) will be seen as changing when the penultimate number clicks over.

[TexasObserver]

10. It's so obviously 2000-2009.

When did the sixties begin? Was it 1960?

When did the seventies begin? Was it 1970?

When did the eighties begin? Was it 1980?

When did the nineties begin? Was it 1990?

This decade began January 1, 2000, and will end December 31, 2009.

Now, if the question had been "when did the century begin?" that's another issue entirely, but decades are labeled from the present usage. A decade is ten years as we perceive ten years to be, and the unit we identify a decade is by the third of the four numbers in it. The "aught" decade ends this week.

[Recursion]

12. An interesting question is when did those decades end socially and culturally

"The sixties" ran from about 1963 to late 1969
"The seventies" ran from late 1969 to 1981
"The eighties" ran from 1981 to 1989
"The nineties" -- when did they stop culturally? The 2000 stock market crash? 9/11? Enron's collapse?

Now, I'm a naval ordnance buff, so I think the aughts ended a few months ago when India launched its first nuclear submarine and sort of officially started the coming China/India arms race.

[TexasObserver]

18. Interesting concept. Here's my version.

The 60s ran from 1963 to 1974. I agree that 1963 was the year of the cultural shift we think of when we think of the 60s. Kent State was the harbinger of doom for the war in 1971. I was in SEA at the time, and the news that four students had been killed by National Guard troops on the Kent State campus sent a shock wave through troops. 1971 was when the war ended, for all practical purposes. In 1972, we swept the Democratic party leaders aside and nominated McGovern. Then 1973 saw Watergate explode onto the scene, and 1974 saw Nixon resign. I'd say that's when the 60s ended. From then until the taking of the hostages in Iran, it was party time in the USA.

The 70s ran from 1974 to 1980. I'd say the election of Reagan in November of 1980 ended the 70s, which were mainly about fun in between the two ends of the decade.

The 80s ran from 1980 to 1992. The Reagan-Bush era. Crushing unions and imprisoning people.

The 90s ran from 1992 to 2000. The Clinton boom era. The ascendency of the internet.

The 00s ran from 2000 to 2009. The Bush era, and its lingering control of the early Obama administration. The "Me" Decade, where cell phones and social sites dominated the cultural landscape as the economy tanked, the country's infra structure failed, and wars of aggression drained the federal budget.

[Recursion]

19. Interesting; we put GHWB into different eras

To me the eighties ended when the Berlin Wall came down; I put Poppy Bush and Clinton together as "90's presidents" -- the two Presidents of the undisputed American world hegemony.

And I like your point about the "me" decade: that's why the iPod is so emblematic of it -- nobody talks to each other or even makes eye contact on the subway anymore because we're all plugged in to our personal jukebox.

[JVS]

13. Exactly. Where people got the idea that it was attached to century/ milenium is puzzling

If they need to say the first decade of something, then it's the first decade of the 20-hundreds. Just like the 19-hundreds were 100 years, but just a touch different from the 20th century.

[Recursion]

11. I distinguish between decades and centuries

IMO the first year of a decade (2000 in this case) is in the previous century.

[NYC_SKP]

16. Did "the Roaring Twenties" include 1930? Did "the Sixties" include 1970?

Technically, 2001-2010 might be correct (assuming there was no 'year zero'), but in common usage the answer is 2000-2009.

I think.

:donut:

[pipi_k]

17. I would tend to agree.

The whole "decade" thing seems rather fluid to me.

Technically, like you said, if there was no "year zero", the decade would be 2001 to 2010


But culturally, people tend to view them 1920 to 1930, 1930 to 1940, etc.

And as someone else pointed out upthread, even 1985 to 1995 is a decade



So everyone is correct...

:7