That would be '40s

Post #37,458 by Andrew Grygus 5/4/02 6:15:00 AM Reply	That would be '40s "Der Fuehrer, Bill Gates, today announced a new licensing plan for Czechoslovakia, France and Poland . . . " [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #37,480 by ben_tilly 5/4/02 9:48:15 AM Reply	This is as good a time as any... ...for pointing out that in not so many years we will need to get used to hearing things like '20s and '30s and not know if people are talking about the upcoming 2020s and 2030s or some date in the last millenium. Might as well get used to the human version of Y2K now. :-) Cheers, Ben "... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." --Richard Feynman
Post #37,490 by Andrew Grygus 5/4/02 12:14:21 PM Reply	No There is not now nor will there be confusion. By social convention, it is always the most recent decade of that number. Nobody's adult memory spans two decades of the same number, so when someone says "It's like something out of the '80s", there is no confusion. Nobody thinks they're talking about the 1880s unless it is clearly in the context of a historical discussion. In 2042, if someone referrs to the '20s, it will automatically be the 2020s unless specifically defined as 1920s or "Roaring 20s". As for computer data - for most business applications (insurance companies and medical records are exceptions), input fields should accept both two digit and four digit years, and storage should be in an absolute date format. Presuming two digit years are in the current window eases data entry and greatly cuts down on typos - and having accounts receivable records aging from 3002. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #37,496 by ben_tilly 5/4/02 2:33:30 PM Reply	That isn't quite the social definition My experience is that people often refer to the next decade or 2 in the short form as well. For instance in the 80's I am sure I said at some point, "I wonder what will happen in the 90's?" It is somewhat complicated by the fact that our century rolled over not long ago, and English doesn't have good names for the 00's and 10's. (People aren't really calling this decade anything, and the next one will be the "teens".) But in 10-15 years, people will say "20's" and mean the future. Cheers, Ben "... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." --Richard Feynman
Post #37,507 by SpiceWare 5/4/02 5:12:10 PM Reply	Illiad came up with a good one for '00 [link\|http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19980101\|the naughties] Darrell Spice, Jr. [link\|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/\|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore

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