# A rare slip - Cecil misses the point on "decades"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rare-slip-cecil-misses-the-point-on-decades/405749>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 28, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rare-slip-cecil-misses-the-point-on-decades/405749 "2007-05-28T02:56:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rare-slip-cecil-misses-the-point-on-decades/405749/41 "2007-05-30T22:31:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> For normal people, the 70’s ranged from January 1, 1970 to December 31, 1979.

For _everybody_, the 70s ran from 1970 to 1979, and the 1900s ran from 1900 to 1999. But the 198th decade ran from 1971 to 1980, and the twentieth century from 1901 to 2000.

(Except, of course, that when one refers to a decade, one is often referring to a _cultural_ decade. The most extreme instance would be the classic line from _How I Met Your Mother_, “The 80s didn’t get to Canada until about 1993.”

–  
John “Let’s go to the mall, everybody!” Kennedy

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