It drives me crazy so many people can't get such a simple thing right. My nephew is almost 2 years old. This is his second year of life (I'm not counting time in the womb). When he was less than a year old, it was his first year.

Yet so frigging often, everyone keeps saying their current age is the year they're in. No, your 30th birthday isn't the start of your 30th year, it's the end. It's so distracting when this comes up in a fantasy series where we're supposed to accept that prophecies are infallible. In the show Once Upon A Time, the Blue Fairy says Emma will come break the curse in her 28th year. NO, the year she is 28 years old isn't her 28th year, it's her 29th year! That's what it means to be n years old, n years have passed since you were born! There is a Disney Channel movie about a boy supposedly turning into a mermaid in his 13th year, but it's his 14th year. The mistake is so prominent THE FUCKING TITLE OF THE MOVIE IS WRONG!

all 4 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

There's a reason computers start counting from zero.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    actually they start counting from whatever the programmer wanted them to. could be INT_MIN, for example.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago

    It's the same concept as what century it is. It's the year 2025, so we're in the 21st century. This still confuses a lot of people, so I have to explain how the 1st century was up until the year 100, not 200.

  • source