If you’re like me, you’re a little excited to see the odometer in your car turn over a bunch of nines to a bunch of zeros. Why should be be excited when 2000 becomes 2001?!
This topic has been covered extensively in the past.
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check the archives check the archives check the archives
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The thrill certain persons feel when those zeroes roll over has been (aptly, I think) called “the odometer effect.” It may be psychologically more satisfying, but it has nothing to do with counting to 1000.
For the purposes of this post, I’m assuming this was a serious question and not a new form of troll. I’d started to pick apart your grammar and syntax, but I deleted it; everyone needs at least one chance to show that they’re not idiots. Here’s yours:
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
Alan, some pointers.
- Are you responding to a column by Cecil? If so, please include a link in your question. (Hint, copy the URL from the column, then paste onto this page. It automatically becomes a link.) That way everyone can be on the same page.
Ahem.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/980703.html http://www.straightdope.com/columns/940930.html
- Check the archive to see if the topic was discussed before. In the upper right corner, under the button for a new topic, there is a small link to the search engine. That will allow you to search Comments On Cecil’s Columns and see if this has been discussed before.
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000206.html
Then you can see if your comment has already been made.
Since you’re a first time poster, I’ll give a little advice. It is generally considered good form to lurk a bit at any new site to see the culture. Then you would learn things like mentioned above.
I’m not trying to be testy or bash the newbie. There are people here who jump on anybody new. I’m trying to help you navigate around them without raising their flags.
Or you could just ask “What’s the third common word ending in -gry?” and see how long you last. 
When you bought your car, did the odometer really start at 000000? I doubt it!
The calendar odometer started at 000001, ok? Well? Someone had to test drive the “AD” system, didn’t they? (Don’t let subjectivity taint the facts!)
Odometers SHOULD start at 000000.0, because they haven’t traveled a single mile yet.
The difference is this:
An odometer measures how far you’ve come (in cardinal numbers): “001348.6” means “I’ve rolled one thousand, three hundred fourty-eight and six-tenths miles.” Our calendar measures which year we’re ON, in ordinal numbers: “A.D. 14,982” means “the fourteen-thousand-nine-hundred-eighty-second Year of Our Lord.” Thus, A.D. 2000 is The Two-Thousandth Year of the Christian Calendar; being a nice round number–and the last of a theoretical millenium–it’s more obvious a point of celebration than the Two-Thousand-First Year of same calendar. I don’t necessarily give a rat’s ass about the “first year of the third millenium” when I have no way of knowing if the Christian calendar, the Christian religion, or human life on this Earth will last through 999 years after that one. Thus, A.D. 2000 is a better candidate for celebration, though you might want to wait 'til the end of it, or at least Christmas.
(What a stupid argument, anyway!)
All in all, it was nice watching live as the new year rang in in every time zone around the globe. Fireworks in Sydney. Will Russia survive Y2K? More fireworks in London. Those crazy Canadians are thirty seconds late. The TV networks probably won’t do that again.
It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.
It all comes down to what’s important / relevant to you, since time is all relative anyway. Here are some other millennia to be on the look out for:
1984 - 2044 78th cycle (China)
1079 - 2079 2nd mill. Saka (India)
1239 - 2239 6th mill. AM (Hebrew calendar)
1592 - 2561 2nd mill. AH (Muslim calendar)
1957 - 2957 1st mill. Caitara (India)
“The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord
i agree with the fool’s guinea pig. as for jinx, if you were to count to 1, where would you start? if i’m correct (and i seldom am) you would start at 0.1 (and if you wanted to get extremely technical, and not to mention annoying, you could start with 0.00000001) 
“I’ve been expecting you,” said Marx, “What took you so long?”
irish man… my tone of voice is pleasant with a singe of “i’m better than you” :
the riddle most commonly known as “what’s the third most common word ending with -gry” is really just an easy trivia that, over time, has been warped into something impossible.
the original riddle was: “Think of words ending in -gry. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.” pant pant
soooooo… the answer to the riddle is this… the first two sentences have nothing to do with the riddle. the third sentence, “There are only three (count’em three) words in the English language.” which, in truth, there are… (1) the, (2) English, and (3) language.
the question is, “What is the third word?” (if you can’t tell by now, medication is available)
soooooo… i suppose this is the point where i stick out my tounge and say “i told you so”, and don’t get me wrong, i’d love to.
“I’ve been expecting you,” said Marx, “What took you so long?”
[[soooooo… i suppose this is the point where i stick out my tounge and say “i told you so”, and don’t get me wrong, i’d love to. ]]
Hm. Not sure what to do with this one.
Jill
Oh, c’mon Jill, just let him stick his tongue out and be done with it.
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
Pssst, tagerine… you might want to do a search on “-gry” under Cecil’s columns and see what turns up. Or check out the FAQ on questions Cecil refuses to answer.
The reason I brought that up wasn’t because I didn’t know the answer. It’s because that’s such a well known newbie detector here. If you ask the -gry question, you obviously have not read this site at all, and you open yourself up to being ridiculed.
So I’ll return that tongue waving, thank you, and suggest you do a little more reading before you try to play superior. Your six posts count for nothing. (My 380 aren’t much to brag about either.)
ahhhh stretches out nice to know i’ve finally found a message board worth my time
“I’ve been expecting you,” said Marx, “What took you so long?”
Happy to oblige, I’m sure. Don’t know how we ever survived without you. :rolleyes:
Here’s my take on it…
They say that, because milleniums are 1,000 years, the next millenium must begin exactly 2,000 years after the first one began, right? And this would make it 2001.
However, decades are 10 years, right? Since the first decade began in 1 A.D., why don’t we begin every decade at 1981, 1991, 2001, etc? Somewhere, there must have been a 9-year decade, and it was presumably the first one (1-9 A.D.) So if we had a 9-year first decade, then I say we also had a 99-year first century and a 999-year first millenium (in order to make everything equal). We roll the decades over at every ‘0’, so I vote that we roll the centuries over at every ‘00’ and the milleniums over at every ‘000’.
At least, that’s my 1.9 cents worth.
David
My take on this. Why the HELL are so many people taking so much time and spending so much effort just to find an excuse not to go to a party? 
[large sigh]
Look, every ten year period is a decade, every hundred-year period is a century, and every thousand-year period is a millennium. One of each is ending right this second, and always will be.
By the same token, any period that is not equal to precisely ten years is not a decade, any period that is not equal to precisely a hundred years is not a century, and any period that is not equal to precisely a thousand years is not a millennium. You don’t get to vote on that, unless you’re Humpty Dumpty, and want to change words to mean whatever you want them to mean at the moment.
So your “9-year decade” theory (which has been thrown about this board before) doesn’t work.
The whole millennium confusion is based on a simple matter of semantics. We say “the 20th century” when we really mean “the 1900s.” The two are both centuries, and mostly overlap. But the 20th century covers the years 1901-2000 inclusive, by definition, while the 1900s covers the years 1900-1999 inclusive, by definition. This leads to the related confusion between “the second millennium CE” and “the 1000s.” One of them ended at midnight on New Year’s Eve; one didn’t. Can you guess which one is which?
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
Thankyou.
We should have another party this New Year’s Eve. This way everyone’s happy.
<So your “9-year decade” theory (which has been thrown about this board before) doesn’t work.>
Okay, so why DO we begin each decade in years ending in zero?
David
Cripes, will you read what I wrote? Every single possible ten-year period is a decade. When the media refer to a decade, they generally use two digits (i.e. the '60s). The century is implied, and the common digit is the tens, which means it covers the years 19x0-19x9, See?
But it’s just as correct to talk about the decade of March 15, 1990 to March 14, 2000. That’s a decade as well. It’s just not one that helps simplify things for TV hosts.
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!