When is the New Millennium?
(Or, for that matter, the new century?)

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As I write this, in mid-1999, many "journalists" and other so-called experts would have us believe that the New Millennium will begin on the first of January, 2000.

Others maintain that it won't begin until a year later, on the first of January, 2001.

So... who is right? ...and are the "2001-believers" just pedants?

Let us try a little exercise...

Count your fingers, thumbs and toes.
 OK so far?

Now, most of us would probably agree that the count at left is correct.
10 fingers and thumbs. (Apologies to those with a different total.)
That was the easy part.

 Column 8, SMH, 24/9/99
At least Column 8 can count...
Now count your toes, continuing the count you started here, to get a grand total. (I assume you haven't had an accident with a chainsaw.)
Whoops!

Whoops! Is this what you got? Starting with 10?

Only 19 fingers, thumbs and toes?

But...

Thats more like it At right is what you would've got if you counted correctly, i.e. starting at 11.

After all, 10 was the total of the number of fingers and thumbs.
"Toes" is a whole new set.

Number 10 is the last finger or thumb.
2000 is the last year of the current millennium.

Number 11 is the first toe. (Check the picture above right if you're confused.)
2001 is the first year of the new millennium (and century).

When you count out number "10", are you counting  fingers, or toes?
If you start counting toes at "10", is this because you have only 9 fingers and thumbs?

Therefore, if you start counting the New Millennium at 2000, then the previous one had only 999 years.
I'm not giving up a year for anyone! (...or a finger...)

- How about another way of looking at it -
On the top of this grid is a scale, from 0 - 10.
They are the numerals which we say aloud when we are counting
(although we wouldn't normally say the "0").
0 - 10
Along the bottom we see which unit (finger, toe, year, century) we are counting.

Imagine the above grid is a timeline of the first ten years of a little boy, born on 1st January 1991: The "2000 = new millennium" brigade would have him celebrating his decade at this point - when he starts his tenth year. Obviously he has only been alive for nine years.
He should celebrate his decade at the end of his tenth year (when he has completed it); i.e. on his tenth birthday, (the red line.)
The last decade of the millennium is indicated on the scale, too.
The last century works the same way.
So does the millennium.
We must finish the last year of the millennium (2000) before the millennium will be over.
The new millennium will not start until the old one is over (duh-h-h-).
Not convinced?...one last try...

The summarised scale below shows all the years from 1 A.D. to the present (and slightly beyond).
(Please bear in mind that it ignores the perturbation caused by the advent of the Gregorian revision of the Julian calendar in 1752 - but that's O.K., because this is a notional argument, anyway.)
 years
As I write this, nearing the end of 1999, we are somewhat to the left of the blue arrow.
We have nearly completed 1999 years of the current notional calendar (not me personally, you understand).
Soon (at the blue arrow) the 1900s will finish and we will begin 2000, the 2000th year of the current calendar.
At the end of 2000, when we have completed 2000 years, the new millennium will begin.
That will be on the first of January, 2001.

Folks, this is not a matter of opinion. This is not "just one way of looking at it".
It is not a matter of convention, or of interpretation.
It is not an "excessive or tedious display of learning".
It is not pedantry.

It is a simple expression of the truth.

Either that, or we've all got a total of only 19 fingers, thumbs and toes.

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