New decade or not???

I want to finally put an end to the question "When does the new decade start?" There have been MANY arguments recently over this conundrum. Most recently the media have been calling the year 2010 the "start of a new decade." Some argue that the new decade doesn't start until 2011. So which is it? Does the new decade start with the "0" year or the "1" year?

The definitive answer is this: They're both right! How can this be? This is an outrage! There has to be a right and a wrong! Well, there is, but the question "What year starts the new decade?" is actually more than one question. Here is why...

From the point of view of the calendar, and the currently used Gregorian dating system (adopted in 1582), a decade begins on the year ending in "1" and ends on the "0". This means that the first decade of the current millennium is actually 2001 - 2010 and the second decade starts with 2011 (ending with 2020). When you talk birthdays, you are marking how many years you have lived. On your 20th birthday you have lived 20 years, because there is a year zero (you don't turn one until your first birthday), and you are beginning your 21st year. When counting years, there was no year Zero. The calendar goes from One BC to One AD. This means that the year 2010 is actually the 2,010th year. The first decade was from 1-10, the second from 11-20, the thirteenth from 121 to 130, the 121st from 1201-1210, the 201st from 2001-2010, and the 202nd from 2011 through 2020. To those who think "calendar" when they hear "decade" then hold tight and you'll make it through this final year of the 201st decade.

Culturally speaking, however, a decade starts with the "0" year. The "60's" were 1960-1969, the "70's" were 1970-1979, and so forth. Any year that started with "198-" was part of the "80's" and therefore, the years 2010-2019 will become the "10's" I suppose. So to those of you that follow this definition of a decade, congratulations on the beginning of yours.

Yes, there is one final way to look at the term "decade." A decade is a period of ten years. This being said, Valentine's Day this year will be the end of a decade that began February 15th, 2000. My birthday will be the first day of a decade that lasts from December 14th, 2010 through December 13th, 2020. I don't think there are many outside of padded rooms that will argue this definition, but if any of you read this (I'm sure some of these facilities allow limited internet access) then congratulations, tomorrow is the start of a new decade. But then again, so is the day after tomorrow, and the day after that, and the following day, and two weeks from next Tuesday, and...