About This Whole Decade Thing

When I first saw a few people saying "The decade begins in 2010, I don't care what some people insist..." I assumed that it was just people who were still bitter over being wrong about when the 21st century began, arguing with straw-man versions of the folks who were right, who stopped arguing with them in 2001. But later I actually saw people arguing, for serious, that just like the century didn't begin until 2001, the decade doesn't begin until 2011.

Let me say this to those people: Stop it. You're making those of us who were right about the century look bad.

Whether you're talking about the century or the decade, it all hinges on which decade or century you're talking about. The whole issue with the century was that they were numbered. The 1st century A.D. began with the year 1, therefore the 21st century A.D. didn't begin until 2001. If you're talking about the 1900s, that's a different century than the 20th century A.D. The 20xx's obviously began in 2000, while the 21st century A.D. didn't begin until 2001.

Similarly, if you're talking about the 202nd decade A.D., indeed the 202nd decade A.D. doesn't begin until 2011. But no one has ever referred to the 202nd decade A.D. When people say "the decade", they're talking about the 201x's. And indeed, the 200x's are over, we're now onto the 201x's.

So to recap: "the decade" of the 200x's is over. The new decade, the 201x's, has begun. Anyone saying otherwise: Stop.

And anyone trying to complicate matters by talking about "the first decade of the 21st century" I say: Shut up. Why are you trying to throw gasoline on the fire?