# Saying the year as "Twenty Oh Nine"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 2, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156 "2009-02-02T21:54:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/1 "2009-02-02T21:54:43Z")
I very occasionally hear people say “twenty oh nine” instead of the more usual “two thousand and nine” when referring to the year. This sounds odd to me.
On the other hand, “twenty ten” for next year sounds just fine.
There doesn’t seem to be any approved way to refer to the years of this decade. Listening to TV and radio, it seems everybody does their own thing.
How do you say 2009? And what about 2010 and subsequent years?
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/2 "2009-02-02T22:05:37Z")
two thousand n nine
two thousand n ten
two thousand n eleven
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### Author:  [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/3 "2009-02-02T22:16:37Z")
twenty oh nine
twenty oh ten
twenty oh eleven
The year 2000 was just “two thousand”, since “twenty oh oh” didn’t sound right.
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/4 "2009-02-02T22:17:33Z")
Yep, “two thousand and…”
I still maintain that this decade will come to be referred to as “the two-thousands”, or possibly “the millennium”. Not the “oughts” or “naughties” or anything else based on words that nobody actually uses. 2010-2019 will maybe be the “teens”. After that, normal service will be resumed.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/5 "2009-02-02T22:22:45Z")
> [@kenner116](#):
>
> twenty oh eleven
You’re kidding, right?
Twenty oh eleven? Like, 20 0 11 or 20011, which is 18,002 years from now?
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/6 "2009-02-02T22:25:18Z")
I know someone who has consistently said “two-oh.” Two-oh-one, two-oh-two, etc.
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/7 "2009-02-02T22:31:10Z")
We should assign words to the years.
For 2009 I vote : “Soufflé”
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/8 "2009-02-02T22:43:52Z")
I don’t use the “and”…I say two thousand nine, two thousand ten, etc.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/9 "2009-02-02T23:16:59Z")
I was ready for “twenty oh one”. “Two-thousand and X” sounds so clunky that you may as well tack on “The Year of Our Lord” while you’re at it.
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### Author:  [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/10 "2009-02-03T00:16:46Z")
I’m a twenty-oh person, for three reasons:
1. Fewer syllables–twenty oh nine (4) versus two thousand and nine (5)
2. Consistent with prior centuries–nineteen oh nine, twenty oh nine
3. I’m old enough to remember when the movie _2001: A Space Odyssey_ was released. This was the first time that people found regular occasion to pronounce a year from the first decade of this century. Then and now, invariably, they pronounced the name of the book and movie as two-thousand-and-one. Even as a child, this grated on me. I vowed that when the time came, I would be in the twenty-oh camp. I must keep my vow.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/11 "2009-02-03T00:40:38Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#):
>
> 1. Fewer syllables–twenty oh nine (4) versus two thousand and nine (5)
> 2. Consistent with prior centuries–nineteen oh nine, twenty oh nine.
Ah, a kindred spirit. They’re the reasons that I’ve always used to justify twenty-oh pronunciations.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/12 "2009-02-03T01:10:06Z")
> [@kenner116](#):
>
> twenty oh eleven
Twenty OH eleven? As in 20011? Wow. So tell us, did global warming pan out? Also, did they ever get those flying cars off the ground?
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### Author:  [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/13 "2009-02-03T01:47:24Z")
Two thousand and nine
Two thousand and ten
Two thousand and eleven
Anything else rubs me the wrong way, in the same way that ‘ur’ for you are, you’re or your rubs me the wrong way.
I would never say the number $2032.50 as anything other than two thousand and thirty-two dollars and fifty cents. I will try my hardest not to judge those who say their numbers differently but I make no promises.
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### Author:  [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/14 "2009-02-03T02:06:19Z")
Two thousand nine.
No AND!
I had it beaten into me by my elementary school science teacher that AND should be used for fractions, e.g., “One and one-half percent.”
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### Author:  [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/15 "2009-02-03T02:11:08Z")
MMDCCCLXII A.U.C.
Okay really, two-thousand nine. Two-thousand and nine is way too long, and twenty-oh-nine too clinical.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
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### Author:  [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/16 "2009-02-03T04:17:40Z")
> [@SanibelMan](#):
>
> Two thousand nine.
>
> **No AND!**
Emphasis added.
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### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/17 "2009-02-03T14:55:12Z")
> [@SanibelMan](#):
>
> Two thousand nine.
>
> No AND!
>
> I had it beaten into me by my elementary school science teacher that AND should be used for fractions, e.g., “One and one-half percent.”
Is this a US thing? Nobody ever leaves out the “and” here in the UK, either for years or just plain numbers. Do USians say “one hundred one”?
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/18 "2009-02-03T14:58:31Z")
Two thousand one, but it’s Two thousand and one: A Space Odyssey
Two thousand nine.
Twenty-ten, but two thousand ten sounds good too.
I’m confused.
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### Author:  [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/19 "2009-02-03T14:59:46Z")
I say “two thousand nine” and I think the “and” is superfluous. You can say “and” if you want and that’s fine, but it’s like saying “petrol” when the monosyllabic “gas” works just as well.
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### Author:  [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-the-year-as-twenty-oh-nine/484156/20 "2009-02-03T15:04:02Z")
I just say 2009.
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