Nappy You Hear!
May we all have a wonderful 2010 and close out this decade on a positive note.
What's that you say? It's the start of a new decade? No, no, no. You're wrong. Yes, I know — everyone's saying it's the start of a new decade. But they're innumerate — and wrong.
Look, I'll walk you through this. It's not that complicated. Christian or not, we reckon time from the birth of Jesus, right? The year of his birth is 1 A.D. (Anno Domini — "The Year of Our Lord") (yeah, the strident secularists label it C.E. — Common Era — but it's the same starting point and they're not fooling anyone). So what was the year before that — 0 A.D.? No, it was 1 B.C. ("Before Christ"). There was no Year Zero. So you can't start counting with zero.
The first decade (ten years) ran from the year 1 through the year 10 A.D. (or C.E. if you prefer), and the second decade began with the year 11 A.D. The first century (one hundred years) ran from 1 A.D. through 100 A.D., and the second century began with 101 A.D. The first millennium (one thousand years) ran from 1 A.D. through 1000 A.D., and the second millennium began with 1001 A.D.
So, to bring us up to date, the last year of the second millennium was 2000 A.D., and the first year of the third millenium was 2001 A.D. Thus, the first decade of the third millennium runs from 2001 through 2010. The second decade starts on January 1, 2011 — one year from now.
This brief lesson brought to you by Pedants 'R Us, insisting on mathematical accuracy even while inebriated, and wishing you and yours a most happy new year.
