Untangling The “What-Year-Does-A-Decade-Start-On” Debacle
The surest way to ruin a party is to be a pedantic git.
Scene: New York City, midnight, a crowded fourth-floor apartment. Through the window, man-made lights and thunder herald the new year: a rare moment of excited relaxation, perhaps joy. Companionship, accentuated with champagne, illegal fireworks, and the sociability of dear friends.
At-least, that’s what it should have been. The countdown ensues — 10, 9, 8, . . . — when the clock strikes into the manic silence, the room goes berserk. A dozen people jump high or detonate party-poppers. A woman’s champagne glass shatters in an embrace, but she kisses her lover just the same.
“2020! A new decade!”, someone shouts. And, from the peanut gallery of smartphone-augmented popular culture, the response trickles out: “The next decade starts in 2021!”
This archetypal story played out in New Year’s celebrations throughout the nation — and indeed, modulo some cultural differences — the world. For westerners, New Year’s is a time for reminisce and celebration — and yet in the first precious seconds of 2020, a thousand arguments were ignited over petty semantics…
