I really wasn't going to post anything on this, buuuut....
Last night, I noticed an odd divide between the chaps and ladies at a party. The majority of the ladies, it transpired, had the greatest of difficulty in grasping the idea that 2010 was the start of a new decade, many insisting that it shouldn't start until 2011, while none of the chaps had a problem with the original statement.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Fri 1 Jan 2010, 9:18, 34 replies)

but
2010 is less than 10 years from 2001, when the last decade started.
( Invisible Wizard - 9th Level Pissant, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 9:40, closed)

Herein lies the problem.
It started at the beginning of 2000, no? I would hazard a guess you're of the XX chromosome set?
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Fri 1 Jan 2010, 9:42, closed)

Ackcherly...
Apparently 2011 is the first year of the new decade and not 2010 - in the same way 2001 was the first year of the century.

It's because there was no `year zero' (well, not outside Cambodia) so the first year was `1' and the first decade ended when 10 did.

Of course, this is all tree hugging hippy crap and its cool watching the numbers all go round.
(Audax Victor, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 10:08, closed)

Mornin' pedant!
How's things over there?
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Fri 1 Jan 2010, 10:13, closed)

That's Mr Pedant to you
Not bad matey...now in the deeps of Wales with a nice Iron Age fortress behind my back garden.

Now...get thee back to the Campfire!
(Audax Victor, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 13:53, closed)

There was a lot of innumerate people
partying like it was 1999, on 31 Dec 1999. They had a big party, the Queen was there and they even built a big dome to mark the event.

They must all have felt pretty stupid when they realised that they were a year early.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 11:58, closed)

This reminds me of the millennium thing
There are two camps, those that hold that the year 2001 is the start of the new millennium and those that are innumerate.

However, if you seriously argue about these things, you are probably just retarded.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 10:22, closed)

I have tits, and a fanny
Yet I understand this. 2000 wasn't the start of the new millennium as there was no year zero. However 2010 is the start of the new decade as there was a 'year zero' in 2000.

You can count it, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09. See that has been ten years.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Fri 1 Jan 2010, 10:41, closed)

I love you.

( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Fri 1 Jan 2010, 11:30, closed)

Except 2000 was the tenth year of the previous decade
not the first year of the new one.
( greedyostrich Cheese is evil! Cheddar is VOODOO!, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 12:07, closed)

No
1999 was the tenth year of the previous decade.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Fri 1 Jan 2010, 12:53, closed)

See below

( greedyostrich Cheese is evil! Cheddar is VOODOO!, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 15:14, closed)

Why would you count from 0?

(thanatos, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 3:44, closed)

Women and numbers don't mix
However, in this case they seem to be right from what you're saying. Mostly. If we started in year '1', then '10' is the last year of the decade, and so it must be completed before the decade is through.

We all agree that a decade is 10 years (I hope). If I owed you say, a decade of pounds (£10 for anyone feeling a bit slow this morning), and I gave you £9 as I was counting 'pound zero', you'd probably be pretty hacked off. So, here it is:

Decade 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Decade 2: 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1 19 20

...

[Edit: Decade 200: 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 2997 1998 1999 2000 - 2000 is the tenth year of this decade]

Decade 201: 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

All years in each decade must be completed before the decade is over. Then again the whole thing's an arbitrary system of measuring time invented by man, so to be honest who gives a fuck whether it's the new decade or not.
( greedyostrich Cheese is evil! Cheddar is VOODOO!, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 12:16, closed)

I agree with your maths
The Third Millennium started on 1 January 2001. So did the 21st Century. I get annoyed at people who don't realise this.

So did the 201st decade.

BUT... people very rarely talk about the "Nth decade", but instead refer to decades (groups of ten years) by the first 3 digits (1920s, 1980s etc.).

So, 1 January 2010 is the start of the "Twenty Tens", and 1 January 2011 will be the start of the less famous 202nd decade.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 16:49, closed)

Also
By the 'decade doesn't start until 2011' logic the 80s didn't start until 1981 and we all know they started in 1978.

I don't recall anyone having this conversation before. I seem to remember 1980 and 1990 being declared as a new decade without anyone so much as questioning it.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Fri 1 Jan 2010, 13:01, closed)

Ah, but...
...no-one (that I'm aware of) spent £789m on a Weber barbecue tent for those years...
(Good old boy just like yer grandma!, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 13:15, closed)

Wha...??
But this is the first year of the new decade! 2011 would be us into the second. I'm a girl and I don't understand why they thought that. =/
( vix0r was not Matthew on, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 14:31, closed)

Last year of the current decade I'm afraid m'dear
not that it matters, as has been pointed out muchly
( greedyostrich Cheese is evil! Cheddar is VOODOO!, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 15:14, closed)

I suppose it depends what the first year was called.
Was it counted from 0 or 1?
( vix0r was not Matthew on, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 19:04, closed)

We label it as discrete years
not continuous time. So the first year was year 1 etc. If we started from zero, we'd be using a continuous scale, and so there's ben no concept of a whole year being '2010', it would have been 2010 at the moment of midnight between new years eve and new year's day, and now it'd be 2010 years, 2 days and 14 hours and 40 minutes
( greedyostrich Cheese is evil! Cheddar is VOODOO!, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 14:40, closed)

to remove arguments
a decade is really any period of ten years. So every year is both the start and end of a new decade.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 16:38, closed)

This is true
So this is the start of the decade called the ................. what the hell is it called?
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Fri 1 Jan 2010, 16:50, closed)

the teens
i bet some pundit calls it the teens, and it catches on. otherwise we're stuck with the Tens. no good name yet really...
( WhoElse I'm what Willis was talking about, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 19:24, closed)

I concur,
To expand, every picosecond is the start/end of a new decade. Extrapolate as needed.
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Mon 4 Jan 2010, 15:35, closed)

Bollocks
You can start a decade any time you like.

1st January 2001 - 31st December 2010? That's a decade.

1st January 2000 - 31st December 2009? That's a decade too.

14th July 1997 - 13th July 2007? So's that.

Exactly the same goes for millennia. 1st January 1000 - 31st December 1999 was the millennium in which the four digit year started with a 1. A far more sensible definition than "One to two thousand years from the estimated and up to 30 years out birth date of a prophet", frankly.

And ... relax.

Incidentally, why do none of the anal retentive millennium definers ever take account of the calendar shift half way through? They should have held their self-righteous parties on the night of January 13th/14th 2001 ...
(ubergeekian, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 17:25, closed)

Calendar alterations are irrelevant
The Romans used to start the year on the first (well, kalends if we're being picky) of March, then changed their minds later. We used to start it on 25 March (Lady Day - nine months before the supposed birth of Christ), which is why the tax year still starts on 6 April (when we switched to the Julian calendar, the tax man didn't want to lose 13 days' revenue).

However, a millennium is a thousand complete years, no matter how short or long some of those years happen to be, and since that monk bloke who came up with the current system decided it would start in AD 1 (the first year of Our Lord), the current millennium therefore began in 2001.

The "Noughties" were still 2000-2009 though. :o)
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Sun 3 Jan 2010, 9:11, closed)

The Gregorian Calendar is fucking stupid...
..but like so many stupid things we've had it too long to do anything about it.

The annoying thing about all this decade starting m'larky is that it's based on the Gregorian Calendar, which is based on the birth of Jesus. This is a really bloody silly and arbitrary way to keep track of dates, in my opinion.

Firstly, there is no 0 AD in the Gregorian calendar; it jumps straight from 1 BC to 1 AD, which would technically make the 2011 people correct. They're still probably not, however.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was born under the rule of Herrod the Great. He died in 4 BC, which throws a massive big fucking wrench in this whole Calendar thing. According to Wikipedia, most scholars assume Jesus was born somewhere between 6 and 4 BC. So our Calendar is several years in front of where it should be.

So seriously, don't worry, be happy, pick whichever one you like most; it really doesn't matter. I personally am all for 2010 being the start of the next decade because at least the "Noughties" will be over and we can be subjected to another equally awful name like the "Elevenses".

Actually, I quite like the Elevenses. I'm sticking with that.

P.S: I am not a Historian and I don't believe in God, Jesus or Winged Mutant Freaks with Harps. I only know this stuff because I had a Catholic upbringing and had to make a date thingy for some website once which made me read up on how the Gregorian calendar works.
(BoneIdol, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 20:22, closed)

You've got to start from somewhere...
The foundation of Rome (it's 2763 AUC)? Jewish (5765)?

The Gregorian Calender is as good as any from a Western European perspective.
(Audax Victor, Fri 1 Jan 2010, 21:16, closed)

Ordinal numbers
This new year (2010) is the 2010th year in the Gregorian calendar, which is part of the 201st decade, the 21st century, and the 3rd millennium.

The 201st decade doesn't end until the year 2010 is over, just like the second millennium didn't end until the 2000th year ended.

It is easy to get confused, as we measure the hours of the day as cardinal numbers instead. For example, 5:01 is clearly more than 5 hours past noon. But no one refers to this as being in the 6th hour past noon, even though it is.

Those who hold to the incorrect interpretation of year names as cardinal rather than ordinal have the advantage. We get to celebrate a year early, and no one likes to be a party pooper. But that doesn't make that interpretation correct.

I guess the demonstrably sexist thing to take away is that a man like Col. Boris can be mistaken, and told so by several women, but he just assumes that they must be the ones with the inability to "grasp" an idea!
(DeepBlue, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 8:56, closed)

The Internet is to blame for this
Nowhere else do retards, arseholes and irritating fucking know-it-all pedants congregate so freely.
( ousgg is not seeking approval, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 12:38, closed)

O rlly?
You should go to a few reenactment events, eh Boris?
(Audax Victor, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 21:45, closed)

DNA
Pedants

Significant Events of the Millennium

1 January 1000 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the second Millennium.
1 January 1001 Pedants celebrate the beginning of the second Millennium.


1 January 1100 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the twelfth century.
1 January 1101 Pedants celebrate the beginning of the twelfth century.


1 January 1200 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the thirteenth century.
1 January 1201 Pedants celebrate the beginning of the thirteenth century.


1 January 1300 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the fourteenth century.
1 January 1301 Pedants celebrate the beginning of the fourteenth century.


10 June 1381 The Pedants' Revolt reaches London. (Not the Pedants' Revolt, the Peasants' Revolt. (sgd.) A Pedant. And kindly close the brackets.) (Thank you.)


1 January 1400 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the fifteenth century.
1 January 1401 Pedants celebrate the beginning of the fifteenth century.


1 January 1500 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the sixteenth century.
1 January 1501 Pedants celebrate the beginning of the sixteenth century.


1 January 1600 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the seventeenth century.
1 January 1601 People begin to get really fed up with pedants.


1 January 1700 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the eighteenth century.
1 January 1701 A few pedants begin to notice that pedants tend not to have very good celebrations.


1 January 1800 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the nineteenth century. A splinter group of ex-pedants turn up and get very drunk.
1 January 1801 The rest of the pedants celebrate the beginning of the nineteenth century.


1 January 1900 Almost everyone celebrates the beginning of the twentieth century. No pedants allowed.
1 January 1901 Pedants hold a Morris dancing festival.


24 November 1996 The Digital Village web site goes online: the third Millennium starts early and catches everybody by surprise.


1 January 2000 Anybody who even mentions the Millennium gets garrotted.
1 January 2001 Massacre of the Pedants.


- Douglas Adams, RIP
(jajwhite, Sat 2 Jan 2010, 13:13, closed)

Not true
Celebrations for the start of the 20th century were generally held on December 31st 1900 / Jan 1st 1901.

But I suppose people cared more about accuracy back then.
(thefuckestuppest cheapened this, on, Mon 4 Jan 2010, 16:49, closed)