So, which century does "turn of the century" refer to, without additional context?
Spoiler Vote first! :
When was the turn of the century?
- Thread starter Quintillus
- Start date
Neither. The turn of the century is the number that ends in "00" turning to "01."
That said, the new century is over 20 years old. A whole generation has grown up since the turn (that I spent in the hospital, extremely sick, rather than doing what I'd planned, which was to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey).
So any time I refer to "turn of the century", it's the 20th becoming the 21st.
That said, the new century is over 20 years old. A whole generation has grown up since the turn (that I spent in the hospital, extremely sick, rather than doing what I'd planned, which was to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey).
So any time I refer to "turn of the century", it's the 20th becoming the 21st.
amadeus
it’s too hot here to think
I think the real question is: when was the Sale of the Century?
I voted 1899-1900.
For the poll question.
Not mine.
I voted 1899-1900.
For the poll question.
Not mine.
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 12,322
Time keeps on turnin', turnin', turnin' . . . into the future.
Marla_Singer
United in diversity
Fundamentally the last century is the 20th century, therefore the turn of the century is from the 20th century to the 21st century. I guess it's time to move on from our old past youth. 
That makes me think of a teacher when I was in primary school who told us that when she was young there was a lot of people born in the 19th century around her, and when we will be old there will be mostly people born in the 21st century around us. Many of nowadays kids will see the 22nd century. A way to put things in perspective.
That makes me think of a teacher when I was in primary school who told us that when she was young there was a lot of people born in the 19th century around her, and when we will be old there will be mostly people born in the 21st century around us. Many of nowadays kids will see the 22nd century. A way to put things in perspective.
Klaus Hergersheimer
King
I'd argue the world advanced more in the 19th century than the 20th so I guess "turn of the century" gives a bit more prestige to the beginning of the 20th.
Oh and 1900 was the final year of the 19th century, of course.
Oh and 1900 was the final year of the 19th century, of course.
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 12,322
I try to keep the Turn of the Century in my heart all century long.
EgonSpengler
Deity
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2014
- Messages
- 12,201
'Turn of the century' to me is a few years on either side of 1900. I watched the first episode of Murdoch Mysteries the other day, for example, which takes place in turn-of-the-century Toronto (Wikipedia says the first season takes place in 1895). If I needed to refer to the years on either side of 2000, I'd probably say 'turn of the millennium.'
A more difficult question to answer is why I continue to misspell 'millennium.' 'Cause I'm a [dimwit].
A more difficult question to answer is why I continue to misspell 'millennium.' 'Cause I'm a [dimwit].
fy00sh
Nonbinary | Peaceful Builder
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2020
- Messages
- 755
to me, as someone born in 1998, the phrase "turn of the century" has always felt extremely neutral in which century it referred to. Would other people flinch if I were explaining the history of the 1200s-1300s, and referred to the year 1302 as being around the turn of the century? I feel like that would make perfect sense to me, but from the fact this question is being asked at all, I'm guessing others might find this somewhat stilted?
in any case, if someone today handed me, say, a piece of jewelry and told me it was made at "the turn of the century", my immediate response would be "wait which one??? theres been like 20 since christ, let alone before"
in any case, if someone today handed me, say, a piece of jewelry and told me it was made at "the turn of the century", my immediate response would be "wait which one??? theres been like 20 since christ, let alone before"
Akka
Moody old mage.
"turn of the century" feels like a 1900 thing, because 2000 was more "turn of the millenium".
Red Deer actually welcomed the new millennium early... by a year and a day.
Back in the late '90s, I was on the board of directors for the local First Night organization. That was a non-profit that was established to put on non-alcoholic, family-friendly New Year's Eve celebrations.
So early on in 1999 we were busy planning for the usual New Year's Eve bash, booking acts and venues, figuring out crafty-type stuff the kids could do, and then the people from the City Emergency Services chimed in: "Due to Y2K, we'd prefer that you didn't have New Year's Eve on New Year's Eve because we don't know what's going to happen with the traffic lights and everything else."
We figured it shouldn't be a problem since the downtown would be cordoned off for several blocks and with pedestrian traffic only, traffic lights wouldn't be relevant. But the City was adamant - either move our celebration to a different night, or cancel it.
So we undid the plans for December 31st, and rebooked acts and venues for the 30th. Plans were well under way, and then a few months later, the City came back and said, "We changed our minds. We think it's safe enough that you could go ahead with the 31st."
We talked it over and decided that no, we wouldn't change everything again. Besides, some of the acts we'd canceled for the 31st had gone ahead and taken other offers and wouldn't be available anyway. We'd already explained why we switched to the 30th - Y2K concerns, and everyone seemed fine with it. So plans continued.
By the time late December rolled around, I was more than done with First Night. Plans switching, trying to get kids' activities arranged, running interference between the restaurant my dad's girlfriend worked for (it was downtown and the owner complained about where we planned to do the fireworks, since it would affect his customers' parking) and the others on the board...
I didn't go to the First Night celebration. Instead, my boyfriend invited me to go see a movie. We went to Toy Story 2 on the 30th, and that is literally the last movie I've seen in a theatre. So when I tell people it was "last century," that's what I mean.
Actually, things worked out rather well. The weather on the 30th was nice - a little chilly, but not cold. The movie was fun, and I enjoyed that night.
The 31st was freezing, so it's a good thing we didn't do it that night after all.
And the bonus? That was the year that there was a round-the-world, 24-hour celebration, ringing in the New Year/New Millennium (a year early) in every time zone. There would be a musical performance in every time zone, speeches, dances, whatever. I tried to stay awake for all of it, but finally dozed off somewhere in the middle of Europe. The last one I remember was a beautiful instrumental performance of "Morning" (from "Peer Gynt") on the deck of an oil rig in the North Sea.
There was even a performance at the South Pole (doable, since it was summer there). It must be a bit weird to stand there and know that you're simultaneously in every time zone in the world at the same time.
Bonus #2: My MP was interviewed on TV and said, "My city, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, was the first city to ring in the new millennium. We did it last night (the 30th)."
So those are my memories of the early, popular turn of the century/millennium. I had plans for the real turn - an evening of pizza or Chinese food and watching 2001: A Space Odyssey.
But a year later I was extremely sick and in the hospital. New Year's Eve wasn't on my mind then, other than wishing the nurses would STFU about everything they planned to eat, since I couldn't keep anything down. I ended up spending 5 weeks in the hospital, not getting home until February.
warpus
In pork I trust
This has got to be the right answer, right? This century started on January 1st, 2001.
As for the "which century are you talking about?" confusion, it seems to me that without any additional context you've got to assume that the person who used the phrase is referring to the previous century switching over to the current century. I mean, if you are reading an older novel, then another century might apply.. So it depends on the context. But without any such context, why wouldn't you assume anything but the current century?
Both those things make perfect logical sense to me, but unfortunately the seemingly right answer is not an option, so I couldn't vote.
Moff Jerjerrod
Deity
I'm in agreement that the turn of the century was from "00" to "01". I remember back in December of 1999 there were many heated debates about this very topic.
warpus
In pork I trust
It all hinges on the fact that the year zero didn't exist, right? The first AD/CE year was 1 AD/CE, and so that very first Anno Domini decade ended with the year 10 AD, the second decade beginning on the first day of 11 AD. It seems simple enough to follow this logic all the way through to present day and to apply it to centuries as well.
On the other hand, we have terms like "the 90s", which include the years starting with 1990 all the way to 1999, which likely adds to the confusion.
However, in this case the phrase isn't "the 1900s" or what have you, but rather "the century", and since the first AD century started with 1AD and ended with 100AD, the second AD century started in 101AD and ended in 200AD, etc. you can follow this logic all the way to the present day, etc.
innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2006
- Messages
- 15,156
The turn of the century from 1799 to 1800 was also treated the same way during the 19th century. It was accompanied, in Europe, by the catastrophic napoleonic wars, which could be called the first (or perhaps second, there was the everyone piling up on the Hapsburgs in the early 1600s) world war. There was very much a sense of this century is different, and the term "ancient regime" was coined just before the turn of that century and became common.
Technically the turn of that century was 1801, but people did regard then as in 2000 the "round year" as the turn.
1990's: 10nth decad of the 20th century. This only works if you don't factor the leap from 1 BC to 1 AD, otherwise year 10 would only be 9 years into the first decad of the first century, leading to 10 being in the 00s and consequently 1990 being in the 1980s.
I think it is far better to just not factor the leap and go with each new century starting with n+1,0,0, like each new decade starts with n+1,0. Of course there is the parallelism to a child born in day x being 0 years old but also in its first year, consequently I think that 2000 should be (quite predictably) year zero of the new millennium; one division of time (milisecond etc) past, you are in the new millennium, no need to wait for an entire year.
I think it is far better to just not factor the leap and go with each new century starting with n+1,0,0, like each new decade starts with n+1,0. Of course there is the parallelism to a child born in day x being 0 years old but also in its first year, consequently I think that 2000 should be (quite predictably) year zero of the new millennium; one division of time (milisecond etc) past, you are in the new millennium, no need to wait for an entire year.
Last edited:
amadeus
it’s too hot here to think
I still think of the turn of the century as being 1900. In common parlance, I think it is fair to say that has been the traditional designate, and I don’t think less than a quarter into the 21st century we have seen the kind of either rapid development in technology or political upheaval to refer to 2000 as some distant and unfamiliar past.
For comparison, between 1900 and 1925 there was a world war, the abolition of the monarchs in Germany, Turkey, and China; there was also a socialist revolution in Russia, and the birth of fascism. In technology, there was the development of powered flight and radio, and the beginning of the popularization of the automobile.
We had a terrorist attack, a mysterious virus, and handheld computers have better color screens on them. Big whoop!
For comparison, between 1900 and 1925 there was a world war, the abolition of the monarchs in Germany, Turkey, and China; there was also a socialist revolution in Russia, and the birth of fascism. In technology, there was the development of powered flight and radio, and the beginning of the popularization of the automobile.
We had a terrorist attack, a mysterious virus, and handheld computers have better color screens on them. Big whoop!
So you are saying that the turn of the century is the turn of the century.
Shows why this can't be efficient for common use
This is a funny line of reasoning. The turn of the century is 1900, because a lot of stuff happened in that time. Quarter or not, we don't have the benefit of hindsight for this century yet. It could be the one where disaster X finally wrecked enough of our biosphere to cause catastrophic event Y (being phrases like "climate change" are considered political, depressingly, I'm avoiding mentioning them except in passing, and we have a bunch of other potential disasters that could qualify anyway).
Do we ignore the turn of the 22nd century by the same metric, when we get there?
"Oh, 1900 was still the gold standard."
"Yeah, I really pine for a time when centuries meant something."
Marla_Singer
United in diversity
I think you underestimate how much the world has changed in the past 25 years. There's been the development of the Internet, smartphones, work from home and now artificial intelligence. In the meantime, we had globalization, China experimenting the fastest development in History of Mankind. This has lead to a world in which the way we inform ourselves is entirely different, societies becoming increasingly fragmented, democratic models being challenged, demagoguery growing mainstream and bots manipulating the masses.
25 years ago, the US was the only superpower and China was a third world country. Nowadays the whole Western world is challenged, the world is rearming, and everything that was done to prevent conflicts since world war 2 is collapsing.
Similar threads
