# The '70s.... The '80s... The '90s... then what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 1999, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491 "1999-12-21T19:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/1 "1999-12-22T06:51:00Z")
The years 1971-1979 were known as “the seventies”. The years 1981-1989 were known as “the eighties”. The years 1991-1999 were known as “the nineties”. What will the years 2001-2009 be called? I know that 1901-1909 were sometimes called “the oughts”, but I don’t think this will fly in this day and age. (I deliberately leave out the years divisible by 10, since that’s a whole different debate.) ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/2 "1999-12-22T06:54:00Z")
The “O’s” ? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/3 "1999-12-21T19:02:00Z")
The Naughty Aughties. 🙂 * * * I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/4 "1999-12-21T19:05:00Z")
_dlv: The years 1971-1979 were known as “the seventies”. The years 1981-1989 were known as “the eighties”. The years 1991-1999 were known as “the nineties”._ ## How 'bout 1970, 1980, and 1990 specifically? I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/5 "1999-12-21T19:20:00Z")
I hate to say it, because I think the hype over the programming issue regarding DOS based systems having trouble with the year '00 is way overdone, but the prevalence of ‘Y2K’ probably means that the years will be known as the 2K’s (as in Y2K, 2K1, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/6 "1999-12-21T20:20:00Z")
The bigger question is why does this concern anyone? Do we have to come up with a name at all? Will there be worldwide riots if we don’t? Will proponents of “the oughts” have a flamewar to the death for those who say “the zeros”? Why on Earth does this _matter_ to anyone? * * * “East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/7 "1999-12-21T20:55:00Z")
double oughts? hundreds? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/8 "1999-12-21T21:07:00Z")
How 'bout the nada’s. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/9 "1999-12-21T21:11:00Z")
I’m looking forward to annoying as many people as possible, by stroking my chin and saying…“Now I remember, back in ought-three…” * * * **Launcher may train without warning.** ---
**Author:** ![beefymeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@beefymeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beefymeg)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/10 "1999-12-21T22:54:00Z")
How 'bout “The Oh-ohs”? * * * Sucks to your assmar. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/11 "1999-12-21T23:02:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Why on Earth does this matter to anyone? take a look again where you are. read the names of the posts in the message board. these people do. whya re you here? * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![KeithM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@KeithM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithM)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/12 "1999-12-21T23:36:00Z")
I like the nada’s, as suggested earlier, or the oughties. But how 'bout this related question? I assume we will say two-thousand, two-thousand-one, etc. Will we at some point switch over to saying twenty- and then the year? If so, when? It seems like it fits after 2010. You would go from saying two-thousand-ten to twenty-eleven, twenty-twelve, etc. ---
**Author:** ![dlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/13 "1999-12-21T23:45:00Z")
I heard Authur Clarke used get _very_ upset whenever he heard the title of his scifi book 2010\* (and the movie based on it) mispronounced as “twenty-ten”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/14 "1999-12-21T23:48:00Z")
Kilgore – yes, but this question has appeared several times, always asked with great urgency, as though if we don’t have a name for it, we can’t go on. Eventually, there will be a name for it. Or not. But why should anyone care? * * * “East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/15 "1999-12-22T01:16:00Z")
Did anyone stop to think since there wasn’t a year 0 the 1970’s didn’t start till 1971. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/16 "1999-12-22T02:37:00Z")
i ran into this site a while ago that lists a few possibilities. if you go there, you can vote on the one that you like best, or put in your own. not that this vote really goes to anything, but it’s still kind of fun to see what they’ve come up with. it’s at [http://www.namethedecade.com/](http://www.namethedecade.com/) * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/17 "1999-12-22T03:07:00Z")
I kinda like zip-one, zip-two, etc. Quick and simple. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/18 "1999-12-22T03:15:00Z")
_Markxxx: Did anyone stop to think since there wasn’t a year 0 the 1970’s didn’t start till 1971. 🙂_ Yes, some misinformed scriptwriters on ER. (If you hadn’t had that smiley face, I would’ve hunted you down and killed you. :)) The 198[sup]th[/sup] Decade AD didn’t start until 1971 and it lasted until 12/31/1980. The 1970’s were the years 1970-1979 inclusive. Similarly, the 20[sup]th[/sup] Century AD didn’t start until 1901 and it will last until 12/31/2000. The 1900’s were the years 1900-1999 inclusive. The n[sup]th[/sup] Century/Decade/Millennium terms are ordinal and completely different from terms like the 1970’s, 1900’s, etc. * * * I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-the-80s-the-90s-then-what/5491/19 "1999-12-22T17:15:00Z")
Geesh, AWB, you saw the smiley and missed the JOKE! \