# The decade is almost half over. What are we calling it anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 20, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794 "2004-12-20T14:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/1 "2004-12-20T14:24:16Z")
[Link to Cecil’s column.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_263b.html) Does anyone have a clue? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/2 "2004-12-20T14:52:10Z")
We’ll probably do what we did last time around. Wait twenty years or so and then start calling it “the turn of the century”. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/3 "2004-12-20T15:03:36Z")
I call it the “ohs”. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/4 "2004-12-20T15:43:57Z")
_I’m_ calling it “a piece of crap,” I dunno about _you_. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/5 "2004-12-20T15:47:21Z")
I second Eve, though maybe the latter half of the decade will be better. Here’s to the future 🆒 ---
**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:** [December 20, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/6 "2004-12-20T16:02:10Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The decade is almost half over. What are we calling it anyway? A Total F@#$ing Train-Wreck, if the news counts for anything. A guy from my office got called up for Guard duty. He’s on Xmas leave, & showed up here at work in BDUs. He’ll be guarding a polling place in 14 days, over there. He’s spending time with his grandchild before he leaves. Yup. Total F@#$ing Train-Wreck. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/7 "2004-12-20T16:05:36Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi](#): > > Total F@#$ing Train-Wreck. Hmmn. Not too catchy, though, is it. I prefer “The End Of Days”, myself. Or “the Two Thousands”, which is what I’ve heard mostly. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/8 "2004-12-20T19:55:00Z")
“ought” or “dickety.” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/9 "2004-12-20T20:21:55Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I call it the “ohs”. I think “oh-ohs” is more appropriate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/10 "2004-12-21T00:21:29Z")
Bushwhacked ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/11 "2004-12-21T16:37:49Z")
At present, it seems best to refer to this period as “nowadays.” ---
**Author:** ![steve\_jonesuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@steve\_jonesuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steve_jonesuk)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/12 "2004-12-21T17:10:36Z")
“The Noughties”. Is that not universal? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/13 "2004-12-21T19:23:54Z")
The naughty naughties? ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/14 "2004-12-21T19:53:03Z")
Seems to me that we’ve been very carefully not calling it anything. Next decade, probably more of the same. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/15 "2004-12-21T20:26:53Z")
Yeah, roll on the Twenties! It’ll have a proper name, plus we can go all art-deco and flapperish. Trouble is, I’ll be well onto my third mid-life crisis by then… ---
**Author:** ![steve\_jonesuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@steve\_jonesuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steve_jonesuk)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/16 "2004-12-22T12:45:05Z")
I’m looking forward five years to the teens, although all the rubbish parties and exam revision will be a bit of a bind. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/17 "2004-12-22T13:19:46Z")
We can get a clue what the decade’s nickname is by looking at how high school and college students refer to their graduating year. Those who graduated in 1996, for example, might have called themselves the “Class of '96” (pronounced Ninety-Six) and the decade was called the Nineties. So what do students today call their class? ---
**Author:** ![steve\_jonesuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@steve\_jonesuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steve_jonesuk)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/18 "2004-12-22T14:21:55Z")
It’s a good suggestion but I don’t think this will work in this case. I think graduates this year call themselves the “Class of '04 (oh-four)” but I don’t think we’re in the “Ohs”. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/19 "2004-12-22T18:00:00Z")
'0X (oh ex) always sounded less goofy to me than most of the other suggestions. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use any of the suggestions in this thread, apart from people talking about what to call it. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794/20 "2004-12-22T19:51:50Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#): > > “dickety.” Everyone knows you only use dickety when the Kaiser steals the digit… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decade-is-almost-half-over-what-are-we-calling-it-anyway/280794.md?page=2)