The ABC asks does 2020 mark the beginning of a new decade or do we have to wait until 2021?
This was a pet peeve of mine in 2000. All the people calling it the start of a new millenium drove me nuts. Clearly the math said 2000 was the last year of the second millenium, not the first of the third.
I can’t remember hearing much about it either way in 2010, but for some reason it’s come back with a vengeance in 2020. I’m hearing a lot of talk about “Good riddance 2010” – I don’t think a lot of people particularly enjoyed this decade and are keen for it to end.
I think I’ve grown up a bit since 2000 – I don’t really care any more if people want to call it the new decade or not. I think I tend to agree with Professor Noel on this one:
Knowledge is knowing that there was no year 0, so technically, the new decade begins Jan. 1, 2021, not 2020.
Wisdom is knowing that we started this system in the middle, it’s socially constructed anyway, and it feels right to treat “1 to 10” as a decade, so that’s what we do.
— Hans Noel (@ProfHansNoel) December 28, 2019
And of course XKCD has an opinion:
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