I find "1800s" to be more commonly used than "19th century". Is that the case?
19th century vs. 1800s
Hmm, quite possibly. I tend to use four-digit numbers for centuries, myself, so I, and others, don't have to remember to subtract in my head (i.e., 16th century is 1500s, not 1600s). But it's more common for dates earlier than, I'm guessing, 1700, at least in the U.S., possibly because the 1700s were when things started to take off here: the American Revolution, the Constitution, the Industrial Revolution... the last of these applying to other countries as well, of course. Or maybe it's just the cutoff between "recent history" and "ancient history" in the minds of the people.
- Kef
- Kef
<<Hmm, quite possibly. I tend to use four-digit numbers for centuries, myself, so I, and others, don't have to remember to subtract in my head (i.e., 16th century is 1500s, not 1600s). But it's more common for dates earlier than, I'm guessing, 1700, at least in the U.S., possibly because the 1700s were when things started to take off here: the American Revolution, the Constitution, the Industrial Revolution... the last of these applying to other countries as well, of course. Or maybe it's just the cutoff between "recent history" and "ancient history" in the minds of the people.
- Kef>>
What about with the 20th century though? For me, "20th century" is the only option. Unlike with "1800s", "1700s", "1600s", "1500s" etc. "1900s" does not refer to the whole century, just the decade from "1900" to "1909".
- Kef>>
What about with the 20th century though? For me, "20th century" is the only option. Unlike with "1800s", "1700s", "1600s", "1500s" etc. "1900s" does not refer to the whole century, just the decade from "1900" to "1909".
Correct. 1900s almost always refers to the decade, since it's still recent enough.
- Kef
- Kef