Hold on.... Is this a new decade or not??

[Ads]

So is 2010 a new decade, or not?? Apparently not.
Some say 2011 is the start of the new decade.

First of all I thought it was a load of rubbish, but now........ well I'm not so sure.

The argument is..... the first year was 1 AD (as there was no year zero), therefore 10 AD was the last year of the first decade, making 11 AD the first year of the second decade.
Moving forward 2000 years (or 200 decades) 2011 will be the first year of the next decade.

Sooooo, that also means 1999 wasn't the end of the 20th century, and 2000 wasn't the beginning of the 21st?!?!?
ALSO and most shocking, 2000 wasn't the beginning of the new millenium, 2001 was!!!
We all celebrated one year too early??? WTF!

Surely this isn't correct. Or is it just me who didn't know?!

Will someone please have a word with somebody!

 

[mitch78]

So you're telling us that 1990 was in the '80s?

 

[Ads]

So you're telling us that 1990 was in the '80s?

Hahahahaahaa. Classic!

Well, i'm not quite saying that. But I am saying that 1990 was in a different decade to the rest of the 90's, and was in the same decade as 1981-1989.

 

[fingermouse]

0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-0 = 10years = 1 decade new one 0-1

 

[Ads]

0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-0 = 10years = 1 decade new one 0-1

Yeah that was my argument... first of all.

But there was no year 0. It started at year 1.
The conversation went something like this.... "ere, why don't we start using dates for days, months and years? Let's start right away. Today is the 1st of January Year 1."

Ok, there was no conversation like that, but you get my point.

So....
1-1 2-2 3-3 4-4 5-5 6-6 7-7 8-8 9-9 10-10 = 10 years = 1 decade.
Next decade starts at 11.

 

[beanoir]

Does this mean Jesus was lying about his age!?

 

[Ads]

Does this mean Jesus was lying about his age!?

Haven't even thought about that one yet. Still trying to work out if this little revelation affects MY age in any way!!

 

[IN-A3]

So what comes next :- 3 BC, 2BC, 1BC, ?

Is it 1 AD!

 

[Ads]

So what comes next :- 3 BC, 2BC, 1BC, ?

Is it 1 AD!

Yep, exactly like that. No year zero.

 

[IN-A3]

That means when Jesus had lived for 1 year he had his 2nd birthday. Unlike us when we are 1. kind of make sense as the 1st birthday is the day you are born.

So that means the first day of this century is 1st of Jan 2001

 

[Geordie Mike]

A decade is ten years. It is a relative reference, not an absolute. It can start when you like. A decade can run from 13th Feb 1986 for ten years. Every second is the start of a new decade I guess.

Simples.

 

[Staz]

This whole argument annoyed me at the millennium as people were saying we should have been celebrating a year later. You've answered your own question though buddy, you start counting from zero and not 1.

 

[Ads]

A decade is ten years. It is a relative reference, not an absolute. It can start when you like. A decade can run from 13th Feb 1986 for ten years. Every second is the start of a new decade I guess.

Simples.

I see where you are coming from, but it's not really what I'm on about.
You could also apply the same to a day, month, a single year and century then.

But for the sake of this argument, let's talk about it in terms of decades as we understand them (or don't understand them).... i.e. have we just entered the 201st decade or not.

 

[Ads]

You've answered your own question though buddy, you start counting from zero and not 1.

You mean from 1 and not 0??

 

[Hatchet]

I see where you are coming from, but it's not really what I'm on about.
You could also apply the same to a day, month, a single year and century then.

But for the sake of this argument, let's talk about it in terms of decades as we understand them (or don't understand them).... i.e. have we just entered the 201st decade or not.

Geordie Mike is absolutely correct. Per thefreedictionary.com:

dec·ade (d

k

d

, d

-k

d

)n.
1. A period of ten years.
2. A group or series of ten.

So it is any period of 10 years and by convention we use decade to mean a period of 10 years starting at year 0. The 1980's decade is 1980-1989. You are free to use the decade 2005 to 2014 if you prefer.

Compare that to century:

. pl. cen·tu·ries 1. Abbr. C. or c. or cent.
a. A period of 100 years.
b. Each of the successive periods of 100 years before or since the advent of the Christian era.

As per the above, you could argue that 2000 was either the first or last year of the century. However for millenia, it seems the definition is more formal and that 2000 was the last year of millenium.

There is a more complete discussion here: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/millenium.

Cheers.

 

[Hatchet]

This whole argument annoyed me at the millennium as people were saying we should have been celebrating a year later.

I celebrated both years, just to be sure.

 

[Ads]

So it is any period of 10 years and by convention we use decade to mean a period of 10 years starting at year 0.

There is no year zero. Only 1BC then came 1AD.
And if what you have posted it correct then the first AD decade only had 9 years.... 1AD to 9AD.

 

[Geordie Mike]

The calendar was all mucked around with way back when anyway. I think it was moved forward 11 days in the 1500s in this country when we moved to the Gregorian calendar anyway, but at different times in different countries elsewhere. So what happened way back when is less relevant than the modern understanding anyway I would have thought.

If you want to be a pedant about it and start at 1, well that was just an arbitrary date anyway. Why is AD the proper place to start? Human history is generally accepted to start with writing, so that is when you should worry about. I think that was ~ 4,000 BC. This could be a complete myth, but have some interpretations of the bible (other religions are available) pinned the creation of Earth down to 4,004 BC? It's the same argument really, just depends when your reference point is. And that is why I don't think it is worth worrying about, for arguments sake.

And lunchtime is over now too, so back (mainly) to work.

Mike

 

[Ads]

The calendar was all mucked around with way back when anyway. I think it was moved forward 11 days in the 1500s in this country when we moved to the Gregorian calendar anyway, but at different times in different countries elsewhere. So what happened way back when is less relevant than the modern understanding anyway I would have thought.

If you want to be a pedant about it and start at 1, well that was just an arbitrary date anyway. Why is AD the proper place to start? Human history is generally accepted to start with writing, so that is when you should worry about. I think that was ~ 4,000 BC. This could be a complete myth, but have some interpretations of the bible (other religions are available) pinned the creation of Earth down to 4,004 BC? It's the same argument really, just depends when your reference point is. And that is why I don't think it is worth worrying about, for arguments sake.

And lunchtime is over now too, so back (mainly) to work.

Mike

Well thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Hatchet]

There is no year zero. Only 1BC then came 1AD.
And if what you have posted it correct then the first AD decade only had 9 years.... 1AD to 9AD.

Feel free to argue with the dictionary if you want.

The whole point is there was no first, second, third... etc decade. We can group any period of 10 years into a decade. So the 1980's decade does not include 1990 because by convention when we say the 1980s we mean the decade 1980-1989.

 

[Staz]

You mean from 1 and not 0??

Nope, you START from zero, just like on a stop watch, it's starts at 00.00.00 then a second later it's 00.00.01.

 

[Ads]

Feel free to argue with the dictionary if you want.

There'll be no arguement with one dictionary mate, was just trying to discuss with people.

The whole point is there was no first, second, third... etc decade. We can group any period of 10 years into a decade. So the 1980's decade does not include 1990 because by convention when we say the 1980s we mean the decade 1980-1989.

I understand your point, I really do. But I started this thread because 1) I keep seeing references in newspapers etc to the "new decade"; which is the point of this thread, and 2) It was just something to talk about.

 

[Staz]

It was just something to talk about.

....instead of working

 

[Ads]

Nope, you START from zero, just like on a stop watch, it's starts at 00.00.00 then a second later it's 00.00.01.

Dunno about that one. You start from zero even though there was NO year zero?
The years as we know them started from 1, so surely you start counting from 1.
Start from 1AD... and a year later it's 2AD.

 

[Ads]

....instead of working

I'm on lunch.......... again

 

[Staz]

Dunno about that one. You start from zero even though there was NO year zero?
The years as we know them started from 1, so surely you start counting from 1.
Start from 1AD... and a year later it's 2AD.

Who says we started at year 1? We might have started halfway through a year or whenever as no one knows for sure, and it's all arbitrary anyway as Mike said. The point of the celebration is the end of the (effectively made-up) period of 2000 years, which occurs at the end of the 2000th year i.e. 1999.

I'm on lunch.......... again

Yeah yeah!

 

[Ads]

Who says we started at year 1?

The geezer who made up the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar we follow.

Anyway, I'd better do some work.
I mean... eat some food!

 

[jojo]

Who cares? .... apart from aythreeeeee that is.

 

[Ads]

Who cares? .... apart from aythreeeeee that is.

You care. I bet it's taken you a day to get involved because you've been wikipedia'ing it to death!

 

[jojo]

You care. I bet it's taken you a day to get involved because you've been wikipedia'ing it to death!

Nah, Facebook is my new passion.

 

[Ads]

Nah, Facebook is my new passion.

New?? Facebook is soooo 2009!
Or would that actually be 2008?!??! Oh I don't know, I'm staying out of it!