Which decade is the year 2000 a part of?

[Renew Deal]

[Warpy]

1. The Aughts

[CBGLuthier]

2. It was the last year of the 90's

Poll results don't matter. It was the last year of the decade that began in 1991. That is the way it works.

[targetpractice]

6. Hmmm... Really?

Didn't that 90's decade start on January 1, 1990?

[CBGLuthier]

7. No, no it didn't

Do you start counting things with zero or one?

Decades start with one. Centuries start with one. Millenia start with one and all end with zero.

[Renew Deal]

8. What do you call the time between 0 and 1?

:shrug:

[BrklynLiberal]

13. bc ?????

[Renew Deal]

25. Here's some info

The calendar era to which they refer is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus, with AD denoting years after the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of this epoch. There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini

[BrklynLiberal]

36. So..there is no time between 0 and 1....LOL

[PSzymeczek]

42. There was no Year Zero.

Things start with Year One.

[targetpractice]

12. You are wrong...

Google "decade"... Every definition I found agrees with me... A decade begins on January 1, ---0.

The "90s" refers to everything that happened from 12:00:00 AM January 1, 1990 - 11:59:59PM December 31, 1999.

[CBGLuthier]

17. no,i am not wrong

Don't care what you find on the internet. Doesn't even really matter to me. I don't argue facts. And for a fact decades begin on 1. That is the way it has always been.

I am dropping this because life is too short to argue plain simple facts.

But here is a link that agrees with me

http://www.myrcpl.com/quick-facts/when-does-decade-or-new-century-officially-begin
and another that I trust even more

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1372/what-year-numbering-system-was-used-in-the-time-of-christ

[targetpractice]

26. Sorry, friend...

I didn't mean any ill will... I understand your point of view, and I didn't mean to start an argument with you. So, let's agree to disagree. ;-)

However, your comment made me think about... "What is a fact?"

Is something like the "start of a decade" a fact? Or, is it an arbitrary definition that can change according to convention? For example, is it a fact if 99% of the population (and internet sources) assert that a decade begins January 1, ---0? Or, are they simply wrong? And, if you are among the 1% who disagree with the 99% (who may be wrong)... How do you get along with them when waxing nostalgic about past decades?

[depakid]

32. Culturally there's really no good argument that it wasn't

The nation's long nightmare of peace and prosperity ended in January 2001.

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. Well, if you take the Apocalyptic "end of the world" theory, then it would have to be 2000

Specifically December 12, 2000

[lapfog_1]

4. Technically, it's part of the nineties.

but for most folks, it's part of the 00's.

Dec 31, 1999 was the "turn of the millennium", but that didn't really occur until Dec 31, 2000, however, the parties all happened Dec 31, 1999 / Jan 1, 2000.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. yep.

[Posteritatis]

5. The naughties. (nt)

[librechik]

9. Opinions vary

but IMO it HAS to be the Aughts. I mean, LOOK at it!

[Wounded Bear]

10. The Aughts....

Decades go by the third number/digit. 2000-2009.

Centuries go by the first two digits of the last year (not the first).

Thus 2000 was the first year of the "Aughts" but the last year of the 20th Century.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. the calendar says the 90s - the computers say the 00s. nt

[bigwillq]

14. I always thought the 2000s (nt)

[logosoco]

35. Thats how I've been looking at it/ saying it...

it was the first year (in my existence) that didn't start with 19. And it will help me distinguish it from the 2010s.
What will we call those years?

[joeybee12]

16. The new millenium started in 2001...

...but people wanted to make a buck quicker on New Year celebrations.

[Libertas1776]

18. Didn't I see this in an episode

of Seinfeld? :shrug:

Seinfeld: By the way, Newman, when you booked the hotel, did you remember to book it for the millennium new year?

Newman: As a matter of fact, I did.

Seinfeld: Well that's funny because as everyone knows that there's no year zero, the millennium doesn't begin until 2001. Which would make your party one year late. And thus, quite lame. Oh!

[Jakey]

38. Lol...

First thing I thought of as well

[Cali_Democrat]

19. Decades start at 0 and end at 9

Come on people!

Is 1990 part of the 80's?

No!

[dana_b]

40. I'm amazed

that people don't know this.

[azmouse]

20. Since there was no year "0" , the years from 1 AD to 100 AD were the first century.

Counting way ahead in time, then 1901 to 2000 made up the 20th century.

2001 to 2100 are the 21st century.

[PSzymeczek]

41. Dingdingdingding!

Winner!

[endeavourniche]

21. No brainer

If you can count from 1 to 10 you should be able to figure out that 2000 is the last year of the "90's" decade. The last year of the 20th century. 2001 is the first year of the 21st century. To make it easier for the counting impaired, just remove the 200 from the 2001 and you will see how easy it is.

[Beregond2]

22. Each decade

begins at zero and ends at the end of nine. It becomes clear if you think about the "first" year in our system. It had to be 0-1, obviously.

[Mariana]

24. Obviously, except it wasn't 0-1.

The idiots who put our calendar together went directly from 1 BC to 1 AD, with no year 0. So it goes like this: Sunday Dec 31, 1 BC, then the very next day is Monday January 1, 1 AD.

[LeftinOH]

23. a child becomes one year old on his/her 1st birthday; this decade

became one year old on Jan 1st, 2001; the decade became 2 years old on Jan 1st, 2002; and, this decade is now about eight weeks shy of its end. IMHO- there may not have been a "year 0", but there certainly was a year 1700, 1800, 1900, etc., during which time each new century was accumulating the 365 days of its first full year. BTW: I flunked math, but this interpretation makes sense to me.

[targetpractice]

28. Brilliant!

I love it when a "mom" steps in and tells it like it is.

Upon edit: Oops... Or a "dad" maybe, in your case.

[mitchum]

27. The 80s...we are still living in that shit

[Kansas Wyatt]

43. Please make it stop!

Hey, can I go back to the 80s and be a teenager again?

[Angry Dragon]

29. I can settle this arguement....

Since being a Dragon and dragons have been around since the beginning of time I was there when the calendar switched over from BC to AD. The first year of AD was the number 1. If you question this then you should be able to find some event that happened in the year 0. To some of you stating that a person is 1 year old on the year 1 you have to know that that person was alive during the first year of their life. So one needs to look at it as the first year of life. Which is the number 1.

[targetpractice]

33. I don't follow...

With all due respect... I've read your post 3 times, and I don't understand it.

A "year" is a measurement of time... One year is is 31,536,000 seconds or 525,600 minutes or 8,760 hours or 365 days.

A "year" begins at the first moment after 12:00:00 AM of January 1st.

A "decade" begins at the first moment after 12:00:00 AM of January 1, ---0.

[Angry Dragon]

34. Sometimes we dragons talk funny

There is no year zero.... no such animal....nothing happened in the year zero because it does not exist

[HughBeaumont]

37. Not unless you're Pol Pot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot

[targetpractice]

44. Okay... I get that there is no year zero...

But really, so what?

Whoever came up with the BC/AD scheme neglected to think things through, obviously... They shortchanged the first decade AD by a year.

But today... 99% of the population believes that the '80s began in 1980, the '90s began in 1990, etc. That is the convention. Demarcating time is arbitrary anyways, years are arbitrary... 31 day months are arbitrary.

We have leap years to correct things... So, why is it not okay to say the first decade was only 9 years, but the second decade started on January 1, 0010?

[DireStrike]

30. 1990 wasn't part of the 80s. 2000 is part of the aughts.

[Unvanguard]

31. Years are ordinal, not cardinal, so they start from Year 1, the first year.

2000 is the 2000th year, which clearly belongs in the two hundredth decade: the '90s.

[dana_b]

39. the ultimate authority:

http://www.vh1.com/shows/i_love_the_90s/episodes.jhtml

10 episodes: 1990-1999.

[tonysam]

45. 2000 was the last year of the twentieth century

That should stop the argument.