# How do you say 2010 (the year)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189 "2009-01-14T02:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/41 "2009-01-14T23:43:08Z")
I’m pushing for ‘the year ten’. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/42 "2009-01-14T23:47:04Z")
It’s the digital age, ferchrissakes! We should all be conversant in binary; so I’m going with 11111011010. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/43 "2009-01-14T23:48:56Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/44 "2009-01-14T23:57:04Z")
Twenty-Ten Two-thousand-eleven Twenty-Twelve Two-thousand-thirteen Twenty-fourteen -\> ninety-nine. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/45 "2009-01-15T00:28:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/46 "2009-01-15T00:49:38Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/47 "2009-01-15T01:19:04Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > This year: Two Thousand Nine > Next Year: Twenty Ten Ditto ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/48 "2009-01-15T02:59:29Z")
> [@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 ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/49 "2009-01-15T04:08:56Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/50 "2009-01-15T06:54:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/51 "2009-01-15T15:22:38Z")
Twenty-ten Never occurred to me that it would be anything else. Is it just me or is it a British thing? I would say “two thousand and nine” (or one or two or three …) not “two thousand nine”. The film was “Two thousand \*\*and \*\*one: a Space Odyssey” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/52 "2009-01-16T04:39:56Z")
I say “two thousand ten,” but I’ve hearsd the BBC say “twenty ten,” “twenty twelve,” etc. In Thai, they would say “two thousand ten,” and no Westerner would bat an eye, but that’s just because of the particular year. It is now actually 2552 in Thai years, but they do not say “twenty-five fifty-two,” but rather “the year two thousand five hundred fifty-two.” In Thai; if they’re speaking English, it does come out “twenty-five fifty-two.” If they’re referring to, say, the Western year 1995, in Thai it would be said as “the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-five.” I find this an incredibly annoying aspect of the Thai language. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/53 "2009-01-16T09:31:14Z")
Twenty-ten for me as well. But I often call 2000 “twenty-aught-aught” and 2001-2009 “twenty-aught-whatever” just for fun, too… ETA: I’m pretty sure I picked up this habit after I read [Cecil’s classic column on what we’d call this decade](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/511/what-will-the-first-decade-of-the-21st-century-be-called). EA2TTA: Hey, I have 1982 posts. Reagan is president in my posting years. Soon I’ll have to deal with what to call the new millennium of my post count. And so forth. EA3TTA: Yes, I guess it **is** 1:35 in the morning. Why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/54 "2009-01-16T16:23:23Z")
People people, what happened to the ‘and’? Or is it just British people who say ‘two thousand AND nine’. In my heart, I feel it should be ‘two thousand and ten’, but given that the London Olympics are consistently referred to round here as ‘twenty-twelve’ (and they’re referred to A LOT), I can see a case for ‘twenty-ten’ ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/55 "2009-01-16T16:24:38Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Twenty-ten > > Never occurred to me that it would be anything else. > > Is it just me or is it a British thing? I would say “two thousand and nine” (or one or two or three …) not “two thousand nine”. The film was “Two thousand \*\*and \*\*one: a Space Odyssey” 😃 Completely with you, Marcus ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/56 "2009-01-16T16:26:06Z")
Twenty-ten. Everyone I’ve known refer to the London olympics as the “twenty-twelve Olympics”. I expect 2010 to follow the same rule. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189/57 "2009-01-16T16:28:20Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > People people, what happened to the ‘and’? Or is it just British people who say ‘two thousand AND nine’. My seventh-grade math teacher drummed it into us to say the “and” (no, she was not British, but she was a babe, and many a 12-year-old had evil adolescent thoughts about her), but every other math teacher I had said it was wrong. I think it IS mainly a British thing. May have been threads about that before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-2010-the-year/481189.md?page=2)