The Written Word
for January 7, 2001

Well, the swords of surrender are all in. The media outlets that one year ago ignored all sensible pleas that the new millennium did not start until January 1, 2001 now are admitting they were wrong. Only a few soreheads that can’t count are maintaining that you can have 2000 years when you’ve only completed 1999. The latest repenter was the Vancouver Sun on December 30.

For us who so valiantly struggled against the 2000 supporters who clung to their beliefs with a tenacity reminiscent of the 8 year old when first told there is no Santa Claus, it is nevertheless important that the converts understand why they were wrong. I say this because the Sun repeats the nonsense that the problem was with a medieval monk Dionysius who made up the calendar not knowing of the concept of “0”. The implication is, of course, that we 2001ers only are right on some sort of technicality. This is nonsense and must be laid to rest once and for all.

Here is the mathematics of it in a nutshell. “Zero”, standing alone, does not and cannot denote quantity. In fact that’s its definition – a lack of quantity. It is a very useful mathematical artifice to act as a line between plus and minus but that’s all it is. You will note the words “standing alone”. Of course when pasted to another number to become 10, 20, etc etc it connotes quantity but it cannot do so on its own.

A useful illustration is the thermometer, a device invented long after Dionysius. There is no “0” degree. There is a line marked “0” but that’s all it is. If you look at your thermometer you will see [-2], [-1], [+1], [+2] with a line between –1 and +1 called “0” but you will look the world over and never find a thermometer with [0]. It simply cannot be and would be a contradiction in terms.

But let’s look at the argument that there should have been a year “0” from another point of view. If there was such a thing, surely the first day would have to be January 0 meaning January would end at January 30. It would mean for those 2000ers that the new millennium would have started out January 0, 2000 and that every month thereafter would start with a day 0 with the 31 day months ending at 30, the 30 dayers at 29 and February either at 27 or 28. No one, not even the most devout 2000er has, to my knowledge, suggested that we start our months with a day called 0 yet if they are right, it follows that just such a change must take place.

The long and the short of it is, folks, that you count years just like you count jelly beans, bottles of whiskey, or rolls in the hay – 1,2,3,4 etc.

So, Happy New Year and a very happy and prosperous 3^rd millennium!