How do you say 2010 (the year)?

[Obeseus]

Whenever I give the expiration of my credit card, I say, "July twenty-ten," and I get, "Huh?" or, "Do you mean two-thousand ten?"

I call this year two-thousand nine, but why wouldn't next year be twenty-ten? Wouldn't the masses use the one with the least syllables? I've been told it should be 'two-thousand ten' due to the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

So who's with me? Are you going with 'twenty-ten' or 'two-thousand ten'? If you're not going to start with 'twenty something' next year, when will you? Twenty-twenty? If people tell me a movie dictates 2010, then I say a TV show can dictate 2020.

[BiblioCat]

I'll say two-thousand ten.

[The Batman]

Two-thousand ten. Although, years that are past the teens I say the other way (ex: 2020-twenty twenty, 2063-twenty sixty three)

[Todderbob]

Twenty-Ten.

Or if I'm feeling particularly adventurous "Em, Em, Ex."

[twickster]

I was thinking about this the other day. Starting next year, we can go back to saying "twenty-" because it will no longer be confusing. "Twenty-nine": confusing, could be "29." "Twenty-ten": there is no numerical equivalent.

A strong vote for "twenty-ten," to be followed by "twenty-eleven" and "twenty-twelve."

[PopeJewish]

twenty-ten

we said nineteen-ten for 1910 (though I guess we said nineteen-oh-nine for 1909) so why not twenty-ten for 2010? I agree that twenty-oh-nine is a bit awkward (along with twenty-oh-nine. Or just twenty-eight/nine), so two-thousand-nine is a good substitute, but we normally break years into first two and last two numbers, and I'm all for starting that up again ASAP

[Sunspace]

I say 'twenty-ten'.

Logically, I think we should be saying 'twenty-oh-nine' for the current year, but most people I've heard say 'two thousand nine'.

[gardentraveler]

Twenty-ten - we've been doing long-range planning (through about 2012) at work and everyone I've talked to says it this way.

[Cunctator]

Twenty-ten. That's how we've been referring to it for budgeting and forecast purposes.

[fighting ignorant]

One of the dumbest people I ever worked with referred to it as "twenty oh ten". Uhhh, no, dude.

[Ruby]

Twenty-ten.

Even with the same number of syllables as Two Thousand Nine, Two Thousand Ten just seems cumbersome.

[Suburban Plankton]

This year: Two Thousand Nine
Next Year: Twenty Ten

[Telcontar]

Originally Posted by fighting ignorant

One of the dumbest people I ever worked with referred to it as "twenty oh ten". Uhhh, no, dude.

You can, however, refer to students graduating in 2010 as "oh tens"

[ParentalAdvisory]

People are strange in this respect.

Heard a reporter on the news the other day say "January 2". That's January two. That's how she said it.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by Tijuana_Golds

Two-thousand ten. Although, years that are past the teens I say the other way (ex: 2020-twenty twenty, 2063-twenty sixty three)

Me too on both accounts.

[WF Tomba]

I say twenty-ten.

[Hank Beecher]

Twenty ten unless trying to be more formal-like for some reason. Saying the superfluous two thousand ten is like saying we are going to party like it is nineteen hundrend and ninety nine.

[Rigamarole]

It will be twenty-ten, for a very simple reason. We love brevity, and it's one less syllable to say it that way.

[wolfstu]

I figure as the year comes in there'll be a bit of each.

"Two-thousand" certainly came more naturally than Twenty-Oh-Oh or such, and "Two-thousand-one" was the obvious successor. We've kept that up through the subsequent decade of similarly-numbered years (did we ever decide to call this the "Oh-Ohs" or the "Naughties"?).

"Two-thousand ten" follows pretty obviously from "Two-thousand nine" in the pattern we've been on since the end of the nineties. But eventually "Two-thousand-twenty-seven" is more cumbersome than "Twenty-twenty-seven", and we'll switch.

I bet, though, that from the point we switch, we'll refer back to 2010 as "Twenty-ten", since that'll be the pattern we're used to following, even if back in 2010 we were saying "Two-thousand-ten".

I like Trocisp's suggestion myself. Ememex. Ememexeye. Ememex-aye-aye. ... Ememeyel ... ah, for the simpler times of emceeyemexsee-aye-aye.

[Art Rock]

I think the comparison with 19xx falls flat. Say Ninety ninety nine stands for ninety nine (hundred) and ninety nine. As it will never be twenty hundred, twenty ten does not make sense to me.

[Raguleader]

I say it Twenty-Ten, just as we did for Nineteen-Ten. The argument that "It will never be Twenty-Hundred" makes sense, except that, counting from 1910, it was never going to be "Nineteen Hundred" either. It just switched from "Nineteen Ninety-Nine" to "Two Thousand."

I predict the same thing will happen after Twenty-Ninety-Nine. It'll just switch to "Three Thousand"

Also, re: Referencing 2010: The Year We Made Contact. This would only serve as a steadfast example if the year 2010 was the followup to the year 2001, rather than there being eight intermediary years.

[Darryl Lict]

Originally Posted by Art Rock

I think the comparison with 19xx falls flat. Say Ninety ninety nine stands for ninety nine (hundred) and ninety nine. As it will never be twenty hundred, twenty ten does not make sense to me.

Seeing that English probably won't even exist as we know it in 9099 or 9999, I don't really see how your comment is relevant. It's going to be twenty ten, and I'm pretty confident that history will bear me out.

[tim314]

"Two hundred and one, oh." Followed by "Two hundred and one, one", "Two hundred and one, two", etc.

Just kidding, I say "twenty ten".

[Jamicat]

I just say 10 or 11 in my case.

My reasoning is...

Unless you been living under a rock for a millenia or are a time traveler the Prefix of 20 will be 20 for the next 90 years.

If I happen to be alive in the year 2100...I'd venture to just say 100.

"Sir when were you born?"
"66"
"Is that 1966?"
"No, 1766..."

[Art Rock]

Originally Posted by Darryl Lict

Seeing that English probably won't even exist as we know it in 9099 or 9999, I don't really see how your comment is relevant. It's going to be twenty ten, and I'm pretty confident that history will bear me out.

That should of course have been nineteen ninety nine etc, not ninety...

[Dolores Reborn]

I've been saying twenty-ten. Odd, we had this question come up at work the other day... Most agreed on twenty-ten.

[AllWalker]

Originally Posted by Suburban Plankton

This year: Two Thousand Nine
Next Year: Twenty Ten

This.

[grimpixie]

Twenty-ten, but that's when we're hosting the World Cup, and twenty ten is how it's pronounced in all the advertising media...

Grim

[ASAKMOTSD]

11111011010 or 2 (for short), but then I am old school.




I just realized that there are 10 kinds of people that will read that. Those that get it & those that don't.

[Nava]

Usually two-thousand-ten. If I was in America I'd probably say twenty-ten. It's the same as with giving the time: ten-thirty in American, half-past-ten or half-ten in Scottish (can't say about English ).

When an agent calls me asking whether I'm available and has problems understanding "I'm not available until two-thousand-ten," I repeat it as "yes, two-thousand-ten, twenty-ten, whichever way you prefer but next year. And that's at the earliest." They seem to get it after a couple repetitions. I've noticed that agents with different accents will say it differently but I don't make a point of asking agents "excuse me, where are you from? It's for an informal language study I'm doing."

[VunderBob]

Two-Kay-ten...

[TroubleAgain]

Originally Posted by gardentraveler

Twenty-ten - we've been doing long-range planning (through about 2012) at work and everyone I've talked to says it this way.

Us, too. Plus it just flows better.

[Happy Lendervedder]

This year: Twenty-aught-nine
Next year: Twenty-ten.

Originally Posted by Art Rock

I think the comparison with 19xx falls flat. Say Ninety ninety nine stands for ninety nine (hundred) and ninety nine. As it will never be twenty hundred, twenty ten does not make sense to me.

So how would you say the year 1066? One-thousand-Sixty-six, or Ten-Sixty-six? Me, I'd say Ten-sixty-six. Same reasoning applies for twenty-ten.

[Ethilrist]

tuh-WUN-oh.

Nah, just kiddin'.

Two thousand and ten.

[Art Rock]

Originally Posted by Happy Lendervedder

So how would you say the year 1066? One-thousand-Sixty-six, or Ten-Sixty-six? Me, I'd say Ten-sixty-six. Same reasoning applies for twenty-ten.

One thousand sixty six. Ten sixty six just sounds odd to me. Then again, English is my second language.

[Euphonious Polemic]

Because of the run-up to the Vancouver winter olympics, everyone around here has been conditioned to say "twenty ten".

[beanpod]

Two thousand nine. Twenty-ten. Saying two thousand eight and two thousand nine just sounds better to me than twenty-oh-nine. Maybe something to do with the two zeros. It also seems kind of odd that someone would say they don't understand what you're talking about when you say twenty-ten.

I don't remember something like 1066 being pronounced anything other than "ten-sixty-six" in history class in school. That sounds normal. One thousand sixty-six is just a number to me. Ten sixty six is a year. Ok, or an amount of money.

I bet eventually most people will switch to twenty-whatever for convenience. It's faster to say. Will people be saying "two thousand" for the entire century? I doubt it.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by fighting ignorant

One of the dumbest people I ever worked with referred to it as "twenty oh ten". Uhhh, no, dude.

In a few recordings we've transcribed, I've seen some folks say 2008 as "two oh eight".

[curlcoat]

As usual, I am the odd one - I've been saying 08 and 09 all along.

At least I am not alone in that I've also been saying twenty ten.

[matt_mcl]

I've been saying 'two thousand and nine' (although more often just 'oh-nine') but for some reason I can't make myself say 'two thousand and ten.' I just automatically say 'twenty-ten.' To me saying 'two thousand and ten' is like saying 'nineteen hundred and ninety eight,' even though I cheerfully say 'two thousand and nine.'

Make of this what you will.

[runcible spoon]

I'm pushing for 'the year ten'.

[Q.E.D.]

It's the digital age, ferchrissakes! We should all be conversant in binary; so I'm going with 11111011010.

[UncaStuart]

Twenty-ten.

Although I think I may say Two thousand eleven, and then go to twenty-twelve, because the three syllables in eleven somehow don't work for me if they follow "twenty."

[Jragon]

Twenty-Ten
Two-thousand-eleven
Twenty-Twelve
Two-thousand-thirteen
Twenty-fourteen -> ninety-nine.

[Hirka T'Bawa]

In my school I'm in the class of Twenty Eleven, and that is how I say it. So when Twenty Ten is here that is what I'll say.

[Kamino Neko]

Originally Posted by Jragon

Twenty-Ten
Two-thousand-eleven
Twenty-Twelve
Two-thousand-thirteen
Twenty-fourteen -> ninety-nine.

Right theory, wrong break point...

Two thousand thirteen - two thousand nineteen.

Twenty twenty and onward.

Twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen are every bit as cacophonous as twenty thirteen (though not as bad as twenty eleven).

Which is why one shouldn't even bother with twenty ten or twenty twelve...keep the pattern going right up until the point when the twenty X pattern starts.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Originally Posted by Suburban Plankton

This year: Two Thousand Nine
Next Year: Twenty Ten

Ditto

[PopeJewish]

Originally Posted by Nava

Usually two-thousand-ten. If I was in America I'd probably say twenty-ten. It's the same as with giving the time: ten-thirty in American, half-past-ten or half-ten in Scottish (can't say about English ).

I hate that "half-ten" crap. My english and scottish friends use it, and for the longest time it'd take me a little while to get it, my process being "half-ten? half of ten is five.... Oh, right, half PAST ten, I gotcha"

anyway, I'd also say for 1066 "ten sixty six" cause we generally divide our numbers into the first two and the second two number pairs, the naughts (2000-2009) are the exceptions, not the rule.

gods forbid we ever fall into the japanese trap, they called 1999 as "sen kyu-hyaku kyu-ju kyu nen" or "one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine year" which is just long-winded and annoying, now we're in "Ni sen kyu nen" (two thousand nine year) which is easier, but still

[Jragon]

Originally Posted by PopeJewish

I hate that "half-ten" crap. My english and scottish friends use it, and for the longest time it'd take me a little while to get it, my process being "half-ten? half of ten is five.... Oh, right, half PAST ten, I gotcha"

It's even worse from a consistency standpoint, I've met some people (and I think this may be the structure in German iirc) that use it to mean half BEFORE. I.e. Half 9 is 8:30.

[Max the Immortal]

Twenty-ten.

Then again, I was ready to call 2001 "twenty-oh-one". I'm tired of this "two thousand X" business. The only way it could be more cumbersome would be to tack on "The Year Of Our Lord" every time you say the year.