# The name of this decade. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366 "2003-09-13T06:55:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/21 "2003-09-13T23:13:03Z")
The Nothings ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/22 "2003-09-13T23:50:17Z")
I call it The Future. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/23 "2003-09-13T23:54:03Z")
Future=Flying Cars. I see no flying cars. This can’t be the future. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/24 "2003-09-13T23:57:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Babbington \* > \*\*Why the hell can’t this decade be the “oughts” just like it was in the 20th century? Why do we feel we need to call it the “ohs?” It sounds like we are surprised at the year. “OH? One?” “OH! Two?” “OH! three?” And why the fuck do people look at me like I killed the Pope when I say “ought?” > Ought One, Ought Two, and Ought Three are much classier. Who’s with me? \*\* You hearltess bastard! Why do you want to kill the Pope? ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/25 "2003-09-13T23:58:53Z")
The Ummms. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/26 "2003-09-14T07:04:56Z")
I’ve been trying to get “twenty-oh…” to catch on. As in “twenty-oh-three.” But people seem to be having none of it. But I do have an actual theory. I think the first decade of a century doesn’t really get a name, because, well, it is more interesting to think of “the now” as a new century (or a new millenium, in this particular instance) than as merely a new decade. But maybe that’s just me…Timmy ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/27 "2003-09-14T07:10:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Babbington \* > \*\*Future=Flying Cars. I see no flying cars. This can’t be the future. \*\* They’re called “airplanes”.😉 ---
**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:** [September 15, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/28 "2003-09-15T01:39:53Z")
\ “In the year two thousand…” \ ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/29 "2003-09-15T05:44:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Babbington \* > \*\*Maybe not in Queens, but there are such things as shotguns with a “thirty-ought-six gauge.” \*\* Gawd, you Minnessotans are more fucked up than I thought. 😃 “Gauge” is an outdated-but-still-used measurement of shotgun bore diameter: Gauge equals the number of round lead balls of bore diameter equals a pound. Twelve balls of about .745" diameter, as I recall, equals about a pound, so that’s 12-gauge. _Rifles_, on the other hand, are measured by bore diameter directly- a thirty-caliber is, oddly enough, .300". Though there’s some variants because some makers measure from the land diameter or the groove diameter, and still others are just completely full of shit (IE, the “.44 Magnum” actually uses a .429" bullet.) Getting back to the OP, the rifle mentioned in your post is the Thirty-Ought-Six, usually written as .30-'06 Gov’t. Which means, Rifle, .30 caliber, Model of 1906 (the date the US Army adopted it.) It actually fires a .308" projectile. Of course, if you _really_ want to confuse things and delve deeper into the archaic gunnery crap, look up “dram equivalents” or the original meaning of calibre, which was barrel length in bores (meaning the big 16" battleship rifles are fifty calibre- the tubes are fifty times the bore, or almost 67 feet long.) I now return you to your regularly scheduled pedanty. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/30 "2003-09-15T06:17:01Z")
Turns out I was talking out of my ass about guns. I detest the things, but I had heard the term. I was just using it as an example of the usage of the word “ought” to indicate a zero. That’s all. But thanks for the lesson on firearms. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/31 "2003-09-15T06:38:07Z")
According to the radio stations, it’s “today.” As in “The best of the 80s, 90s and today!” Wonder why I don’t listen to the radio anymore. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/32 "2003-09-15T07:52:02Z")
Nil’s Zip’s Nix’s Goose Egg’s Zilch’s Void’s ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/33 "2003-09-15T15:49:43Z")
The 00s—pronounced “ooze.” Or, just make sure nothing remotely important happens between 2000 and 2009, so that we never have to refer to this decade again. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/34 "2003-09-15T16:14:32Z")
The UK media has really gone with “the noughties”. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366/35 "2003-09-16T02:42:55Z")
How about “the decade when Yellowstone erupted and killed everbody?” I’m a glass-half-empty kinda guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-of-this-decade/201366.md?page=1)