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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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This comic was released on the first day of the year {{w|2020}}. It was the second of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] around the 2019-2020 New Year, after [[2248: New Year's Eve]].  
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{{incomplete|Created by a PEDANT. Explain title text.}}
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This comic was released on the first day of {{w|2020}}. It was the second of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] around the 2019-2020 New Year.
  
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The comic opens with [[Megan]], [[Cueball]], [[White Hat]], and [[Ponytail]] celebrating the new year. Ponytail expresses relief  that, they can now unambiguously name the decade "the 20s", since the decade has a well-defined name, any cultural trends that begin in the 20s can be attributed to the decade itself, and not to the generation that happens to coincide with it.
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[[Megan]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] are all happy for the beginning of the new {{w|decade}}, from 2020-2029, for a variety of reasons, but [[White Hat]] has objections to this beginning of a new decade.
  
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Prior to 2000, and particularly in the latter half of the 20th century, eras were often defined by decades, such as discussing the social movements of the 60s, or the music of the 80s. Beginning in 2000, this trend was noticeably reduced, most likely because the first two decades of a century didn't fit into the same naming convention, making it clunkier to discuss. "{{w|Aughts}}" and "Teens" were names suggested for the {{w|2000s_(decade)|2000s}} and {{w|2010s}} respectively; however, neither of those names managed to gain widespread acceptance.
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It begins with Megan wishing happy new decade and Ponytail naming it the {{w|2020s|'20s}}. At this point White Hat tries to get in with an objection to this, but he is interrupted twice before he can make his point.
  
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In this same era, there was an increased emphasis on generational cohorts, which Ponytail seems to see as a replacement for dividing time into decades. {{w|Millennials}} is a name given to the generation which was born in the 1980s through the mid 1990s. The term is sometimes used pejoratively by older generations who view millennials as immature or complacent, and this was particularly common in the 2010s. It's possible that this focus on the generation was really a substitute for a focus on youth culture of that era. This is particularly notable since, as time moves on, Millenials continue to age, but the older generation still views them as the current youth. This phenomenon was previously discussed in [[1849: Decades]].
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First Ponytail is excited that decades have "easy names" again. Decades such as the {{w|1960s}} or {{w|1970s}} had easy "names" - '60s, '70s, etc. The {{w|2000s_(decade)|2000s}} were {{w|2000s_(decade)#Name_for_the_decade|sometimes}} named the "{{w|Aughts}}" and the {{w|2010s}} the "Teens", names that did not enter popular usage, but we can return to the shortened decades name with the '20s decade.
  
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White Hat, however, raises a pedantic objection to Ponytail's celebration: he believes that the new decade does not "officially" start until 2021.
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Then she continues to discuss cultural trends and Cueball chimes in. In decades before the 2000s, trends were named for the decade in which its members reached adulthood / teenage years, e.g. a trend from the '90s. After 2000, many trends have been labeled with the "{{w|millennials}}" term, which refers to an entire generation who grew up in the 2000s. Cueball and Ponytail hope that trends will not be labeled as "millennial" or by generations in this new decade. This phenomenon was previously discussed in [[1849: Decades]]. Millennials have also been mentioned in [[1962: Generations]] and in [[2165: Millennials]].
  
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Ponytail corrects him on this, but he refuses to accept the correction until Megan cites an unlikely source: the fact that the {{w|VH1}} television show {{w|I Love the '90s (American TV series)|''I Love the '90s''}} categorized MC Hammer's 1990 single "{{w|U Can't Touch This}}" as a 90s song, which supports Ponytail's definition of a decade. The joke is that a pop culture documentary is not an authoritative source for definitions of time standards,{{Citation needed}} yet everyone is willing to immediately accept its authority on such matters anyway. Demonstrating the common usage of language is a valid argument, but the degree to which the authority of a single cable channel resolves the argument is unexpected.  
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The main point of the comic, however, is White Hat's claim that the new decade does not start until 2021. Ponytail claims that he is pedantic but in that case he should at least be right... Of course both sides believe they are correct. White Hat's argument appears to be analogous to the point often made at the turn of the millennium, which is that, because the Gregorian calendar doesn't include a year 0, the first century started in year 1, the second century began in the year 101, and so forth, so the 21st century didn't begin until the start of 2001. Nevertheless, most people were celebrating the shift from 19 to 20, as the first two numbers in the year, much more than they did the next year when the new millennium officially began.  
  
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The disagreement over the definition of when decades start is due to the fact that there is more than one way to count decades. You could do it in one of the following two ways:
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Ponytail retorts that decades aren't numbered cardinally: any set of ten years constitutes a decade.  While the 203rd decade of the Common Era doesn't begin until 2021, "the twenties" refers to all years that include a "twenty". White Hat appears not to accept this argument, insisting that that Ponytail doesn't "get it", he even wish to draw her a diagram which makes Ponytail interrupt again to respond in kind.
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*By counting every span of ten years that has occurred since the start of year 1 in the Common Era (White Hat's definition)
 
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*By taking the digit that is common to all years in a given ten-year span (Ponytail's definition)
 
  
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White Hat's definition is an "ordinal" method since it functions by counting the number of ten-year spans ''since the first one'', which is defined to have begun in the year 1. However, Ponytail's definition is the "cardinal" method, which simply groups years by their common most significant digits. For example, when we say "the 1980s", we mean "the span of ten years that all began with the digits 1-9-8".
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At this point Megan stops their heated argument claiming she can resolve this. She then states that {{w|MC Hammer}}'s song "{{w|U Can't Touch This}}", released in 1990, was featured in a 1990s-themed television show ({{w|I Love the '90s (American TV series)|''I Love the '90s''}}) instead of its 1980s-themed counterpart. Ponytail then claims that this settles the discussion. And White Hat throws in the towel stating that he accepts VH1's authority and lets Ponytail win. This comment can be read in two ways: sarcastic ("VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge, you have presented a poor argument") or legitimate ("I accept VH1 as a legitimate authority and defer to them," which would be humorous because VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge of the calendar). {{w|VH1}} and MTV, its sister channel on cable TV, are known for grouping music by decades.
  
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Neither definition is technically wrong, but Ponytail's definition is clearly the more common one. She notes that this is not how decades are typically determined, and the fact that we count centuries in an ordinal way does not require that we do the same with decades.  
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However, reading the {{w|decade|Wikipedia page on decade}} it is clear that neither White Hat nor Ponytail can claim to be correct. There is no consensus about what a decade should mean regarding 2021-2030 vs 2020-2029. On the other hand saying the '20s is much clearer defined as those years with two thousand and twenty something. But that was not what Megan was saying. Ponytail on the other hand uses that version.
  
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White Hat's objection (probably deliberately) recalls an issue that was frequently discussed around the year 2000.  Because we ''do'' count centuries ordinally (eg. "1st century", "20th century", etc.), and the first century began on the year 1, the 21st century did not technically start until 2001. Much of the world, not understanding this (or not caring), celebrated the dawning of the year 2000 as the start of both a new century and a new millennium, ignoring those who point out the change wouldn't happen for another year. (Though it should be noted unlike decades this is a genuine mistake rather than two slightly different definitions.)
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Perhaps [[Randall]] may be concerned that a single datum-point is not sufficient proof, so in the title text he continues this theme with a hit song from 1980 grouped with the 1980s, not the 1970s. In this case it is {{w|Blondie (band)|Blondie's}} 1980 hit "{{w|Call Me (Blondie song)|Call Me}}" which is featured in {{w|Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's}} chart [https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboards-top-songs-80s Best of the 80s].
  
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Megan's exclamation "Stop!" is similar to the line famously used by MC Hammer in "U Can't Touch This" ("Stop! Hammer time.").
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The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}}, "quod erat demonstrandum", literally meaning "what was to be shown", traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof to mean "thus it has been demonstrated", as if this second landmark piece of evidence sufficiently proves Megan's point beyond a doubt, as conclusive as a mathematical proof.
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Continuing the dubious "proof" offered by Megan, the title text goes on to use the {{w|Billboard (magazine)|Billboard}} [https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboards-top-songs-80s Best of the 80s] chart as proof that the 1980s started in 1980, as their chart includes {{w|Blondie (band)|Blondie's}} "{{w|Call Me (Blondie song)|Call Me}}", which was released in 1980. The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}} ("quod erat demonstrandum"), which means "which was [necessary] to be shown", and is traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof, implicitly equating such pop culture references to unassailable logical evidence.  
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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:[Megan walks in from the left greeting Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail standing next to each other, the last two looking in her direction.]
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:[Megan walks in from the left greeting Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail standing in a line, the last two looking in her direction.]
 
:Megan: Happy new decade!
 
:Megan: Happy new decade!
 
:Ponytail: Welcome to the '20s!
 
:Ponytail: Welcome to the '20s!
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:Ponytail: Seriously.
 
:Ponytail: Seriously.
  
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:[Only White Hat and Ponytail are shown, both with their arms held out to the sides, with White Hats's arms more relaxed than Ponytail's.]
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:[Only White Hat and Ponytail are shown, both with their arms held out to the sides.]
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:White Hat: It's technically not a new decade until 2021.
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:White Hat: It's technically not a new decade until '''2021'''.
 
:Ponytail: OK, listen.
 
:Ponytail: OK, listen.
 
:Ponytail: If you're going to be pedantic, you should at least be right.
 
:Ponytail: If you're going to be pedantic, you should at least be right.
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:Ponytail: You're '''''not'''''.
 
:Ponytail: You're '''''not'''''.
  
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:[Zoom in on White Hat and Ponytail's upper bodies as they gesture towards each other both raising their hands, palm up. Megan interrupts them from off-panel, as made clear in the next panel. Her voice comes out of a starburst on the left panel frame.]
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:[Zoom in on White Hat and Ponytails upper parts as they gesture towards each other both raising their hands palm up. Megan interrupts them from off panel, as made clear in the next panel. Her voice comes out of a star burst on the left panel frame.]
 
:White Hat: See, the 20<sup>th</sup> century didn't start until--
 
:White Hat: See, the 20<sup>th</sup> century didn't start until--
 
:Ponytail: But decades aren't centuries. They're not cardinally numbered.
 
:Ponytail: But decades aren't centuries. They're not cardinally numbered.
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==Trivia==
 
==Trivia==
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* Millennials were also mentioned in [[1962: Generations]] and in [[2165: Millennials]]. Also, [[Randall]] himself is a millennial.
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Traditionally, the First Century starts in year 1 and ends in the year 100, the Second Century starts in the year 101 and runs through the year 200, and so on, because {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero indexing}}, like the number zero itself, was not in wide use at the time. However, due to an error by {{w|Dionysius Exiguus}}, the year 1 was after the death of {{w|Herod the Great}}, so Jesus could not have been born in that year, and was probably born either in 4 B.C. or 6 B.C., so the first, second, etc., century after his birth would actually end in the mid '90's.
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{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
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[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
 
[[Category:New Year]]
 
[[Category:New Year]]
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[[Category:Pedantic]]
 

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