LogFAQs > #932169816

I actually gave this one a bit of a thought since I saw the argument earlier. Going 2020 here.

It's definitely true for "the 21st century" or the millennium that it starts with 1 IMO, for that reason. If we referred to decades in the same fashion like "the 203rd decade" then I'd say, yeah 2021. But... we don't.

When we're referring to the nth century or the new millennium we're implicitly working from the start of the AD/CE calendar so the lack of a 0 year comes into play. But, models of inconsistency we are, society does not refer to decades in this way. We use the tens digit of the year to define them when we refer to them, so it's 2020. After all, "decade" is simply a period of 10 years regardless of start/end dates. Much like how this being the 100th year of the NFL we would say it's been around a century despite the fact it doesn't match up neatly with the calendar version of one.

tl;dr:

The new millennium began in 2001.
The 20th century began in 1901.
The 200th decade began in 1991 and ran through 2000.
The 90s began in 1990 and ran through 1999.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?