[jodrellblank]

What's "more logical" about "the seventeenth century" compared to "the sixteen hundreds"?

[hombre_fatal]

I’d say more sensible. It’s always weird to me to use the number 17 to talk about years that start with 16. Makes more sense to just say the 1600s.

[dantyti]

After their 16th birthday, the person is going through their 17th year.

Just like 11:45 can be told as "a quarter to 12"

[rootusrootus]

> After their 16th birthday, the person is going through their 17th year.

While that is true, does it not illustrate exactly the problem? Nobody ever says someone is in their 17th year when they are 16. That would be very confusing.

[dantyti]

People in my country sometimes do. As well as uni students, who always say which year they’re in, not how many years they’d finished.