I forgot to mention that, like most of you, I’ll probably wind up saying the year however the majority of people I know do it. I may have my own preferences, but it doesn’t mean enough to me to fight against the stream.
Left to my own devices I’d probably stick with “two thousand [whatever]” out of habit. But if “twenty [whatever]” becomes the norm, I’ll adapt. I’m not really wedded to it either way. (I would have preferred that this year were called “twenty-ought-nine,” but no one else seemed to agree.)
Brevity is your friend. This year is simply “oh-nine” and next year is either “ten” or if you just can’t stand to go 1 syllable, “twenty ten”.
The “and” makes you twitch? Better not travel to the UK or Australia (amongst others) then. Because the standard way of counting here includes the “and”.
- 152 is pronounced “one hundred and fifty two”
- 2009 (number or year) is pronounced “two thousand and nine”