# How do you say years from 2000 onwards? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 29, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742 "2023-05-29T14:46:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/21 "2023-05-30T10:35:17Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Here in England, I and most people I hear (on the radio etc) say _Two thousand and five_ etc, up to _Two thousand and nine_, Yeah, the Brit I hear doing it all the time is F1 commentator David Croft. Bugs the crap out of me every time. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/22 "2023-05-30T11:08:55Z")
I’m American and I sometimes use the “and” and sometimes not. I err these days towards not using it. I think it mostly depends on the rhythm of the sentence and what I spontaneously decide sounds better. For example, the movie 101 Dalmatians is American, but I would pronounce is “One hundred and one Dalmatians” and that is how it is pronounced in the trailers for the classic cartoon and the live action movie (and its sequel.) So in the US both are used. Now, I did hear, probably on these boards, maybe twenty years ago or so that some people were taught that “and” is supposed to represent a decimal point in speech, and should only be used to separate the whole number part from the fractional part. I had never heard this rule before, and it seems like completely nonsense to me, at least observing how the language works. But here’s an example of the rule, in #4 here: [How to name or read a decimal -- A complete course in arithmetic](https://www.themathpage.com/Arith/decimals-2.htm#:~:text=The%20word%20%22and%22%20will%20always%20signify%20the%20decimal%20point.&text=Answer.,and%22%20for%20the%20decimal%20point). That may be the usage when speaking mathematically (and I don’t even remember being taught this rule there), but in normal speech, there’s little need for a rigid style. I can’t think of a time where someone using the “and” or not has confused me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/23 "2023-05-30T11:38:37Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > By common usage, the first decade has become _“The Noughties.”_ Cecil on this, in 1993: > **[What will they call the class of ’00?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342283/what-will-they-call-the-class-of-00)** ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/24 "2023-05-30T13:36:10Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > 2000-2009: Two-thousand, two-thousand one, two- thousand two… > > 2010 onward: Twenty ten, twenty eleven, twenty twelve… Same here. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/25 "2023-05-30T13:49:46Z")
I usually say something like “Back in nineteen ninety seven…wait, I mean two thousand seven…” Yeah, no “and” or “‘n’” needed. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/26 "2023-05-30T13:50:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > For example, the movie 101 Dalmatians is American, but I would pronounce is “One hundred and one Dalmatians” and that is how it is pronounced in the trailers for the classic cartoon and the live action movie (and its sequel.) So in the US both are used. I feel like the “and” is only used for counting amounts of things, not years. So I might say “That TV costs two thousand and ten dollars,” but _never_ “that happened back in two thousand and ten.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/27 "2023-05-30T14:01:11Z")
I guess I occasionally use the ‘oh-oh’ form for the early years, like Two-oh-oh-three instead of Two-thousand-three. The ‘and’ is just syllabic wastage. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/28 "2023-05-30T14:16:50Z")
Interesting. Both are completely valid constructions to me. Like, I will say “Two thousand ‘n’ one, a Space Odyssey” interchangeable with “two thousand one, a space odyssey.” ---
**Author:** ![banjopatterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@banjopatterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjopatterson)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/29 "2023-05-31T01:19:50Z")
I’ve been retired since 1996 so I’ve not really cared what day it was, let alone which year. The problem is that for the last thousand years we’ve been able to say nineteen hundred and…, eighteen hundred and… etc but records going back to 999CE are somewhat sketchy on the matter of one thousand. There are no doubt people here who will live to 2100 (not me) where I will predict that twentyone hundred will be back in fashion. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742/30 "2023-05-31T01:35:44Z")
Now? I seem to naturally put the divide between 2009 (two-thousand nine) and 2010 (twenty-ten), likely because I’d otherwise have to say “twenty oh nine”, which sounds weird to me. But, while the years were going on, I’m pretty sure I held on to the word “two thousand” for at least a couple more years. It’s not until 2013 that it starts feeling too long. And I’m not sure about 2012. It suspect it would depend on what the most common way was to refer to the Mayan calendar issue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-years-from-2000-onwards/984742.md?page=1)