Saturday, January 02, 2010

Happy New Decade

That's right. Decade!!

dec⋅ade

–noun
1. a period of ten years: the three decades from 1776 to 1806.
2. a period of ten years beginning with a year whose last digit is zero: the decade of the 1980s.
3. a group, set, or series of ten.
From Dictionary.com

Please take careful note of Point 2. Welcome to 2010.

1 comment:

Jp Corkery said...

Check this one:

http://www.yourdictionary.com/decade

Pay careful attention to definition 2, taken from Webster's English Dictionary.

It still means you're right of course, but at least it does acknowledge that officially a decade is years XXX1 to XXY0, even if the common use is different now, whereas the definition you linked (which is from Random House - some dictionary I've never heard of) pretends that there's only one meaning.

And after all, what's the point of having a standardised calendar if we then go off and use terms the wrong way or use completely new ones?

You may as well wish people a happy new blewgarb!