I hate the nth century convention because it doesn’t match up with the numbers used for the dates, so I always refer to the dates.… but that actually tends to confuse people.
I was going to say “the 1700s”, but that’s ambiguous as in principle it could refer either to a century or to its first decade. (OTOH, it would be more accurate, as my mental pigeonholes lump the year 1700 together with the following 99 years, not with the previous.)
I hate the nth century convention because it doesn’t match up with the numbers used for the dates, so I always refer to the dates.… but that actually tends to confuse people.
I was going to say “the 1700s”, but that’s ambiguous as in principle it could refer either to a century or to its first decade. (OTOH, it would be more accurate, as my mental pigeonholes lump the year 1700 together with the following 99 years, not with the previous.)