We've got one more year to go in this Decade

[Ron Green]

Although lots of us are ready to move on to something better (or at least different), don't forget that the decade goes from the year ending in "1" through the year ending in "10" (or zero, as the case may be.)


Just sayin'

[seeinfweggos]

1. you are a lonely voice crying in the wilderness, my friend

you are right of course, but it matters none.

[Oregone]

2. So the 80's was 1981-1990, inclusively?

Huh? wtf?

[Shagbark Hickory]

3. Oh damnit! You mean we're going to have to watch these top 10 of the decade clip shows again next yr

Why can't we be done with this sucky decade already?

[groovedaddy]

4. So, what decade does the year 2000 belong to? n.t

[Oregone]

6. 90s according to this, I think

[groovedaddy]

7. And therefore, 2000 was not the turn of the millenium. Makes perfect sense! ;-) n.t

[Oregone]

9. Of course it wasn't. Rather, 2000 was the turn of America to the far right.

[groovedaddy]

24. No doubt! n.t

[dysfunctional press]

5. i see it as 3 more years left in this decade...

my counting starts from the year i was born.

[spanone]

18. 8 more years...i don't count the cheney years

[endless october]

8. disagree.

disagreed with the "2000 is actually part of the 1990s" crowd as well.

2010 starts the next decade.

[Systematic Chaos]

10. So then, please remind us which of the previous 200 decades had only 9 years.

I'm afraid that's the only way it would work out the way you say it should.

[endless october]

11. 2000 - 2009 is ten years.

1. 2000
2. 2001
3. 2002
4. 2003
5. 2004
6. 2005
7. 2006
8. 2007
9. 2008
10. 2009

that's the way it's going to be measured.

[Systematic Chaos]

15. So then the first decade was ten years too:

1. 0
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3
5. 4
6. 5
7. 6
8. 7
9. 8
10. 9

That being said, can you name any major historical events from Year Zero?

What, you mean there WAS no Year Zero, thereby making the very first decade of the A.D. calendar equal to:

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8
9. 9
10. 10?

Oops!

[endless october]

17. there was a year zero. if they mislabled it, should we have to pay?

i say no. those people didn't even have internet message boards, so who would have been around to tell them they were wrong?

2010 is our new decade. if you want to wait until 2011 to acknowledge the new decade, more power to you, but the champagne is apt to be mighty flat by then.

[Ron Green]

12. 2000 was the last year of the 20th Century.

If you count on your fingers, the first is "one" and the last is "ten." "Eleven" starts the next group of fingers, or years.

It's no biggie, other than our culture is so very challenged in understanding math, or science, or many other areas, that we tend not to think things through that ARE important.

[Cirque du So-What]

13. Posts like this make a compelling case for naming this

the decade of anal-retentiveness. And FWIW, the decade ends when WE say it ends - just like the century or the millennium. See Seinfeld for a full explanation of why celebrating the new millennium on Dec. 31st, 2000, would have been incredibly lame.

[Ron Green]

14. Well, there's my point. Instead of wrestling between Ptolemy and Copernicus,

we're looking to Seinfeld for these cultural amd scientific markers. It's just a Sein of the times, I guess.

[invictus]

16. +1

[Obamanaut]

19. If it is true that a decade is ten years, could not a decade begin in

a year such as 1997 and end ten years later?

[DeadEyeDyck]

20. we count decades differently than centuries

there was not a year zero so centuries run inclusively for 100 years. Decades are a collection of 10 (deca) years. We generally name them by our base ten system. I.e. 50's, 60's, 70's etc. 1/1/2010 will start a new decade.

[Javaman]

21. Don't waste your breath...

there are people who enjoy willful ignorance in all matters including logic here on DU.

I met a guy years ago, that firmly believed he was 1 on the day he was born. Go figure.

There is no reasoning with teh stupid.

[dave29]

22. *astronomy nerd alert*

the planet is over 4 billion years old.

Still looks pretty hawt, too

[Edweird]

23. By that logic, I was 'born' 1 year after I left my mothers womb.