Is 2010 the start of a new decade?

JLM

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I've heard that being mentioned on the radio lately. I was of the understanding 2011 is. Anyone know for sure?
 

TenPenny

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We never had a 'year 0', so 2011 is the start of a new decade.

Similarly, the year 2000 was the last year of the previous century.

But as with many things, the 'popular culture' version generally takes over from the 'technically correct' version.
 

JLM

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We never had a 'year 0', so 2011 is the start of a new decade.

Similarly, the year 2000 was the last year of the previous century.

But as with many things, the 'popular culture' version generally takes over from the 'technically correct' version.

Makes sense to me.
 

Tonington

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Technically we haven't been using this calendar system since there was a year zero, and time didn't start at year 0. Even more technically, a decade is ten years with no defined start date, and can start whenever you like.

The common practice is to refer to decades like the 90's, because that's just way easier than saying the 90's minus 1990 plus 2000.
 

Blackleaf

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People are getting confused.

2010 IS the first year of the next decade. The next decade is the 2010s, therefore 2010 is the start of the next decade. That's self-explanatory.

2000 was not the start of the 21st century or the 3rd millennium AD.

There was no Year 0 (though there was in the Hindu and Buddhist calendars. To Hindus, this year is 3102 and to Buddhists it is 2547) so the first millennium AD was from 1 to 1000. So the third millennium AD is from 2001 to 3000 and the 21st century is from 2001 to 2100.

But popular culture does consider 2000 to be the start of the next century and millennium and, looking at it from that point of view, it was the first year of a century to be a leap year since 1600.
 
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TenPenny

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People are getting confused.

2010 IS the first year of the next decade. The next decade is the 2010s, therefore 2010 is the start of the next decade. That's self-explanatory.

For that to be true, the first decade would have to start with the year 0, and end with the year 9.
 

Dexter Sinister

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A decade is just any ten year period, you can start counting on any day you want, but for those who insist on talking about decades as if they were specific ten year periods within a century that we label the 80s and the 90s and so on, there's a certain logic. Given that the start of the 21st century was 1 January 2001 (and it was, because of the no year zero thing), consistency requires that the first decade of the 21st century start on the same day. Therefore the second decade begins after 2010 is over, on 1 January 2011, and the answer to the question in the thread title is no.
 

gumpscheck

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There may not have been a year zero, however when a person turns 1, aren't they truly "starting" their 2nd year? Therefore we are truly starting our 2011th year. From January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2010 is exactly 10 years, thus after midnight starts the 2011th year...another decade, or 10 years.
 

Dexter Sinister

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But a person starts out at age 0, the calendar didn't; the appropriate comparison would be saying someone is 1 at the moment of birth. The third millennium, the 21st century, and the first decade of the 21st century, all started 1 January 2001, not 2000.
 

Francis2004

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But a person starts out at age 0, the calendar didn't; the appropriate comparison would be saying someone is 1 at the moment of birth. The third millennium, the 21st century, and the first decade of the 21st century, all started 1 January 2001, not 2000.

Dexter, IMO I think many people get confused because the Millennium problem occurred in 1999 at midnight for 2000 due to electronics chips issue..

To many the new Millennium started that night I guess right or wrong.. I remember our flight from England was moved up due to IATA on any flight that could not land prior to midnight 1999..
 

Nuggler

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Of course not! 2011 is the start of the new decade.

Shyte Jack, a decade is ten years............

c'mon.

You REALLY don't think that.................

Aw ****, Jack, You've been listenin to Raygun agun.............it's gonna F u up. He's dead. Those voices you hear ain't really there. For ****'s sake, get some help.

Ever really LOOK at Maggie. Check out them chompers.....She's bite it off, Jack; just for spite...........really.

Awww, ****, believe what you will..............

happy new year
 

YukonJack

Time Out
Dec 26, 2008
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Nuggler, your most intelligent remarks/comment were your asterisks.

Not to mention the words you were too chickenish to spell correctly.

Please do me the favour and NOT respond to my posts.
 

kimbo

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Dec 31, 2009
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A decade isn't over until ten full years have past. Ten years will not have passed until 31st Dec 2010. January 1, 2011 is the first day of the new decade.

Some people claimed the new millenium started on Jan 1, 2000 but it wasn't until Jan 1, 2001.

Get a grip people. Ten years is a decade.

Jan 1 2001 - Dec 31 2010 is one decade.
Jan 1 2011 - Dec 31 2020 is the next decade.
 

kimbo

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Dec 31, 2009
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Count it this way

years 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 etc etc 91-2000, 2001-2010, 2011-2020 inclusive.
New decade starts Jan 1st 2011 and ends Dec 31st 2020
 

kimbo

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The first year wasn't "0". It was 1. Ten FULL years must pass so therefore 31st Dec 2010 is the last day of the first decade of the 2000's. January 1 2011 is therefore the first day of the next 10 years, ending on 31st Dec 2020.
 

SirJosephPorter

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Nov 7, 2008
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The first year wasn't "0". It was 1. Ten FULL years must pass so therefore 31st Dec 2010 is the last day of the first decade of the 2000's. January 1 2011 is therefore the first day of the next 10 years, ending on 31st Dec 2020.


A lot of posters have made this argument here; I don’t think that holds water. The first year wasn’t 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or anything like that. We did not adopt the current calendar from year 0 or year 1, 2, 3 etc. we adopted it much later. The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory in a decree in 1582. So the first year was really 1582.

So how do we know that the calendar didn't start at year 0? We don’t. The reason average person thinks that it is the start of the new decade is simple. The second digit changes. Going form 2009 to 2010, the second digit changes from 0 to 1. Simple, and end of story.

Indeed, that is why 1 Jan 2000 heralded the new millennium, nobody paid much attention to 1 Jan 2001.

Sometimes common wisdom goes against scientific wisdom, and this is one such instance. And since it is not a significant matter, it is an unimportant subject; common wisdom prevails here, and tomorrow is indeed regarded as the start of the new decade.
 

JLM

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A lot of posters have made this argument here; I don’t think that holds water. The first year wasn’t 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or anything like that. We did not adopt the current calendar from year 0 or year 1, 2, 3 etc. we adopted it much later. The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory in a decree in 1582. So the first year was really 1582.

So how do we know that the calendar didn't start at year 0? We don’t. The reason average person thinks that it is the start of the new decade is simple. The second digit changes. Going form 2009 to 2010, the second digit changes from 0 to 1. Simple, and end of story.

Indeed, that is why 1 Jan 2000 heralded the new millennium, nobody paid much attention to 1 Jan 2001.



Sometimes common wisdom goes against scientific wisdom, and this is one such instance. And since it is not a significant matter, it is an unimportant subject; common wisdom prevails here, and tomorrow is indeed regarded as the start of the new decade.

I'm inclined to propose the opposite argument. When we count we go from one to ten (0), in all other instances, so why change it for the date? What the years were called 2000 years ago is irrelevent (if you want to correct for that, then the current year probably isn't "2009"). I think the second decade starts Jan.1 2011.