# Say, this decade is already half over. What are we going to name it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063 "2005-02-02T22:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/1 "2005-02-02T22:32:35Z")
It’s already 2005 and I haven’t heard anybody apply a name to this decade, you know, like “the Sixties” or “the Nineties.” People speak of the “Millennium,” but that’s not nearly specific enough, is it? I nominate "the “Naughties!” 🙂 As in the year “naught-one” (2001). Whaddaya think? ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/2 "2005-02-02T23:04:18Z")
I vote for “the zeroes.” “Back in the zeroes, I wore an onion on my belt, that being the style at the time…” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/3 "2005-02-02T23:10:05Z")
Well, Heinlein didn’t forsee Clinton, so they’re coming a little late, but “the crazy years” is as good a descriptor for this decade as any. Nehemiah Scudder has likely just started getting his game on. ---
**Author:** ![EvanS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@EvanS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvanS)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/4 "2005-02-02T23:25:02Z")
So far it looks like the “Confusion Decade” – maybe “The Confusions.” ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/5 "2005-02-02T23:43:06Z")
The Decade of Lies and Idiocy ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/6 "2005-02-03T00:41:21Z")
I’ve been using “The Aughts” for a couple of years now. It’s not catching on, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/7 "2005-02-03T00:45:23Z")
_sigh_ As I posted the last time this came up, a month or so ago, we’ll probably do what we did last time: Wait ten or twenty years, and then start calling it “the turn of the century”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/8 "2005-02-03T00:51:04Z")
And as I suggested ealier– The Total F%cking Train Wreck Decade ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/9 "2005-02-03T01:00:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It’s already 2005 and I haven’t heard anybody apply a name to this decade, you know, like “the Sixties” or “the Nineties.” People speak of the “Millennium,” but that’s not nearly specific enough, is it? I nominate "the “Naughties!” 🙂 As in the year “naught-one” (2001). Whaddaya think? Decade, half over? Not yet. Not untill midnight December 31, 2005! Decade of conflicts: Good vs. Evil, Dems vs. Pubs, East vs. West, World vs, USA or? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/10 "2005-02-03T01:18:41Z")
To steal from Unca Cecil: The Damn Fool Decade. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/11 "2005-02-03T02:38:39Z")
The 2K’s, because it started with the Y2K scare, and it has a certain cyberesque originality to it that is fitting in these increasingly digitally-oriented days. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/12 "2005-02-03T14:25:28Z")
Well, noughties is picking up pace on the net. 17000-odd google hits and the great majority of the first few pages I checked refer to the decade. No way of checking the spelling ‘naughties’ quickly; you’d need to filter out the other senses. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/13 "2005-02-03T14:38:24Z")
The zeros. Or the Decade of Bush. Same difference. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/14 "2005-02-03T16:17:22Z")
The Stolen Decade (for the 2000 election and its aftermath) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/15 "2005-02-03T17:04:41Z")
My kids (who are five and six) call them the “none-dies.” ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/16 "2005-02-03T17:08:29Z")
_Futurama_ was off by about a decade. We’re living in the Stupid Ages **now**. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/17 "2005-02-03T17:41:14Z")
Why would they be the “Naughties” if the phrase is 'aught-year? Like, I was born in 'aught-two. Have I been hearing this wrong all along? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/18 "2005-02-03T17:53:01Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > Why would they be the “Naughties” if the phrase is 'aught-year? Like, I was born in 'aught-two. Have I been hearing this wrong all along? In _The Music Man,_ “Professor” Harold Hill claimed to have graduated from “the Gary Conservatory, Class of ought-five” (1905). So I think it’s established usage – at least, back then. I don’t know whether the preferred spelling is “aught” or “ought.” The word “naught” means “nothing,” while “nought” means more specifically “zero” (as in “noughts-and-crosses,” the British name for tic-tac-toe); so “ought” is probably correct. But calling this decade the “Oughties” wouldn’t be nearly as cool as calling it the “Noughties”! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WpgTriniman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a88e4f/32.png) [@WpgTriniman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WpgTriniman)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/19 "2005-02-03T18:09:50Z")
I’d call it the Decade of the Pre-emptive Strike. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063/20 "2005-02-03T18:12:40Z")
I’ve never seen any post to one of these threads saying what term was/is used for the 190X decade. Is “turn of the century” it? I like “naughts” but it doesn’t seem to be catching on. Maybe it’s not until the decade is in the past that we will require a term to discuss it. For now, “this” decade seems to work just fine. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-this-decade-is-already-half-over-what-are-we-going-to-name-it/288063.md?page=2)