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Decade

Started by Red Arrow, December 31, 2009, 10:34:15 PM

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Red Arrow

I have heard several TV personnel say that we are entering a new decade.  Well, actually we enter a new decade at any arbitrary time point until the passage of 10 full years.

Most folks want to ignore the fact that we started with year 1, not year 0.  I believe the first decade ran from the beginning of year 1 to the end of year 10 (10 full years), the first century from the beginning of year 1 to the end of year 100, and the first millennium from the beginning of year 1 to the end of year year 1000, making January 1, 1001, not January 1, 1000 the beginning of the second millennium. And so on.

I propose that we have decades from the beginning of years ending in 7. For example, the present decade runs from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2016. The next decade will start January 1, 2017.  It's no more arbitrary than saying the present decade ran from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009. Same idea with centuries and millenniums.

Centuries should start in January of years with 63.  Why not?

Just being picky.