The first decade of the twenty-first century did not end at midnight today.
The fact that few know this, and that even fewer care about this, is instructive when analyzing voting patterns.
Happy New Year!
Hemingway's St Louis Wives
2 hours ago
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4 comments:
You're right. I found it puzzling that the entire western world went into the Y2K frenzie that it did on New Year's Eve 1999 (Jan. 1, 2000) since I was aware, by the same mathematical principle you are employing here, that the new millennium began on Jan. 1, 2001. In my case, at the time I remained silent out of respect for the Holy Father, who had proclaimed the Holy Year and identified the beginning of the new millennium on Jan 1, 2000 (now with hindsight I suspect that once again, His Holiness was a victim of the same PR clowns that have mishandled so much of this current Pope's publicity as well).
decade, century, millennium...they end on a 10 and start on a 1. 2010 is the last year of the 2000s decade.
Well, I suppose it is the same silly logic that states that full term pregnancy is just nine months long.
As stated, I agree with you completely since the twenty-first century began on January 1, 2001. But the decade of the aughts - for lack of a better term - did just end. According to Random House Dictionary, via dictionary.com, the first definition of a "decade" is simply a period of ten years, which could begin in any year. The second definition specifically refers to periods of ten years beginning with a year that ends in a zero - like the 1980s. So, it seems that while 2000 was, without a doubt, in the twentieth century, 2000 was not a part of the 1990s.
This could, of course, be why most folks don't care about this in 2010.
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