What years make up the 4th millennium BCE? ...
4000 BC through 3001 BC
... and when did it end?
Apparently it ended by 3000 BCE. So the third millennium would be 3000 BC through 2001 BC; the second would be 2000 BC through 1001 BC; and the first would be 1000 BC through 1 BC.
The next year after that was year 1 AD or 1 CE, whatever.
It's hard, you know, you go your whole life thinking in terms of years B.C. and years A.D. and you're a total atheist but that's okay because "B.C." and "A.D." are not religious terms. They simply identify a turning point. And then all of a sudden everything you read changes "Before Christ" to "Before the Current Era" and changes "Anno Domini" to "Current Era". WTF! I don't know what BCE is. I don't know what CE is. They couldn't leave that alone? Does the religious undertone of the old standard bother people so much that they had to change it? I guess it did.
I wonder who it was, anyway, who couldn't let well enough alone. Some fool. You know, there still are actual problems that need to be solved in this world.
Likewise with using the word "they" (which was plural when I learned it) in place of "he" or "she" because somebody has a bone to pick with history. Why should that affect me?
And when I joined the workforce, if you had to take the day off you would "call in". Now, you "call out". WTF.
And when I learned geography, the word was "oriental", meaning "from the east". Now the word to use is "Asian". WTF. I didn't know until I heard Jon Stewart on the Daily Show some years back make fun of an old guy for using the word "oriental". I didn't find that funny.
Just you wait. Wait until you're an old fart like me. Then you'll see. You don't know who the guest host is on Saturday Night Live. The actors from your favorite movies now look dodderingly old, and actors in new movies look like they're 14. And people go changing words just for the hell of it. You'll see. You'll see, and you'll be saying then what I say now:
Leave the goddamn language alone.
