Sorry for a question from a Knoob. I was always under the impression that a 17" monitor for example would be 17" wide but only when I checked, I now know it is not the case.
The 17"/19"/21" is the measure of the distance from one corner of the monitor to the opposite corner (diagonally). So for example a 17" monitor would measure 17" from the bottom left corner to the top right corner. It's the same with TVs: a 60" TV has 60" between any two diagonally opposite corners.
In CRTs that included part of the casing as well, so a 17' was actually a 15.5' - 16' depending on the manufacturer. LCD's screen size is net, meaning that the viewing space is actually that stated in the specs.