2010... Start Of A New Decade! Right?

As Ebeneezer Scrooge stated when confounded, "I shall retire to Bedlam!"

The TV has been pronouncing 2010 as the start of a new decade. What then of these links found here and also here and finally here?

This logic of Mr. W.B. Heffernan is compelling:

As we approach the end of the year 2009, we are seeing a repeat of the innumeracy that was so prevalent as we came to the end of 1999.

To wit, the first of January 2010 is not the first day of a new decade, but the first day of the last year of the first decade of the 21st century, which began Jan. 1, 2001.

Ours is a decimal system, based on the numbers 1 through 10, and when you count things – be they apples, fingers, cars or years – you begin with 1.

This is because if you don’t have at least one, you have nothing to count. Calling 2009 the end of the decade is akin to telling a child to count his fingers as follows, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and telling him: “You have 10 fingers.”

Mr. Petro goes into some fine detail in this thread which I commend. Finally, there is nothing like quoting Ms./Mr./Kitty "shadron" who posted this masterpiece":

In the beginning...

When Dionysius Exiguus, in about 532 CE decided that they needed to locate Christ's birth in time, zero was not an option, so the presumed date of his birth (for PR purposes determined to be around the winter solstice) started the year 1 AD (anno domini, or year of our lord, aka CE, or common era), whichalso was 753 AUC (ab urbe condita, from the founding of the city, i.e., Rome), and the year before that was 1 BC (before Christ, which tells you that when anyone started worrying about it, Latin was no longer in the picture). If you count decades from this origin, then the first decade was from the start of year 1 to the start of year 11. If the origin point is important, then the decades start on New Years day of the year xxx1, and end on the last day of (xxx1+9). Same for centuries and millenia.

I dislike CE and use AD (the contraction of Anno Domini) which is the "non-politically correct" version of the era in which we now reside--the Year of Our Lord. In any case, you get the picture. Hope the next year which ends your decade is a good one, all! Happy and Blessed New Year!

D.v.