The Twenty-First Century

Oh for goodness sake. It is 2009, and I really (really) thought I would be over the whole "year 2000" thing by now. But noooooooo...

Now, we are far enough into the new century (how far is a matter of dispute, but I get ahead of myself) for there to be articles, blogs, even books chronicling historical events that cross over the line betwixt the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first, which was also the vastly larger transition between the end of the second millenium and start of the third.

And that brings my old heartburn right back again. Here we are, partying like its 1999. Which, as we all (should) know was the year BEFORE the last year of the twentieth century, 2000, which obviously was the year before the FIRST year of the twenty-first century, 2001.

Why is this such a difficult concept? Why do people take for granted the rudimentary math error which had them calling the "year 2000 bug" the Millennium bug, despite the fact it took effect a full year before the turn of the actual millenium?

Look. If you're not following because you've been brainwashed by fiendish statisticians, here's how it goes: There was no year zero AD. The first year of the A.D. epoch was 1. That makes the last year of the first century 100 and the first year of the second century 101. Extending it out, the last year of the first millennium was 1000, making the first year of the second millenium 1001, and so on.

Now... admittedly even I am not so pendantic as to insist on the mathmatically correct statement that the last year of the 1960's was actually 1970 (although it technically was) and that the year 1960 was part of the '50s (it really was). It's just simpler to think of decades by their starting number, and I'm okay with that. However, centuries and millennia are just too darn important and, well... BIG, to mess with that way.

If there was a virus that would take effect on April first, would you call it "the March Thirty-First Virus"? If you had a vacation day scheduled for Labor Day Monday, would you call it the Sunday Labor Day holiday? Wouldn't make sense, would it? So why do people just nod and accept the Millennium Counting Error (or MCE, as I've just now named it)?

And yet I just read an article about the late (and wonderful) comedic actress Madeline Kahn, who died in 1999. The article went on about how terrific it is that her final movie was released in 2000, making her career extend into the new millennium. Excuse me? As much as I love and respect and cherish the memory of Ms Kahn, her last film was released during the last year of the 2nd millennium A.D., not the first year of the third.

Can we please just put this to bed and agree that I am right and everyone else is wrong. Again. Please? Maybe??