James D. Forrester wrote:
On Mon, 22nd November 2004, at 19:34, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason avarab@gmail.com wrote:
Similarly, the "twentieth century" begins in 1901 and ends in 2000, unlike the English twentieth century which begins in 1900 and ends in 1999.
Umm. Actually, this is oft a point of confusion; although decades do, indeed start in xyz0 and continued until xyz9, centuries, millenia, and longer periods of time start from xy01 and continue to x(y+1)00. Hence the beginning of this millennium was on the 1st of January 200*1*, although the first decade primarily within said millennium had started the year beforehand, and the end thereof is to be the 31st of December 3000, not 2999.
To make it more confusing: in the Dutch meaning of the word, the first decade of this millenium lasted from January 1, 2001 to January 10, 2001 (inclusive) :-)
nearly-all-Dutch-people-do-it-wrong-ly - y'rs Gerrit