# What are we calling this decade? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782 "2006-10-17T15:17:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/21 "2006-10-17T19:49:30Z")
[QUOTE=slortar] We will not call it anything. It will be the Decade Which Shall Not Be Named, and those that do shall be beaten to death by any that hear it mentioned. [/QUOTE] Non-fatally speaking, you’re right. In the 1990s I generally heard it called “the next decade.” Now it is called “this decade” and I assume in 3+ years it will be called “the previous decade”. It will start getting awkward after that. In the 2080s will it be called “first decade of the century” or what? (Especially since the “first decade” of this century is from 2001 to 2010. Ordinal vs. cardinal numbers again.) ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/22 "2006-10-17T20:16:36Z")
We’re not calling it anything because the only name that would really make sense would be “The Terror Years,” and nobody really likes that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/23 "2006-10-17T20:51:41Z")
I call it “The Zeroes”. Because, as **robardin** said upthread, calling it something like “The Peak Years” or “The Age of Decline” or “The Annoying Age” would be depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/24 "2006-10-17T20:55:54Z")
[QUOTE=Barbarian] We’re not calling it anything because the only name that would really make sense would be “The Terror Years,” and nobody really likes that. [/QUOTE] Besides, not all of us are terrified. And wasn’t the “Great Terror” that period after the French Revolution when the ruling clique cynically manipulated the terror levels of the populace to do in all their opponents? [sub]If you are terrified, the terrorists are winning…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/25 "2006-10-17T21:40:49Z")
I’ve been using “aught.” Sounds great, and it’s going to sound even better when I’m a stooped, grey-haired geezer. “Why I remember back in ought-four, I think it was, and we had the greatest blizzard ever…” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/26 "2006-10-17T21:50:33Z")
I think it’s fascinating that in our world of memes for anything that’s been around for five minutes, we have no name for this decade. Absolutely fascinating. I could write a sociological thesis on it. If I was, you know, a sociologist. And I wrote theses. I like The Decade That Shall Not Be Named, personally. Or TDTSNBN for short (I took the W out because I don’t like W’s in acronyms). ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/27 "2006-10-17T22:35:09Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] I like The Decade That Shall Not Be Named, personally. Or TDTSNBN for short (I took the W out because I don’t like W’s in acronyms). [/QUOTE] Why would there be a “w” in that acronym? I agree with its exclusion, in any case. There is a tendency to shorten “double-you” to “dub” which is annoying. I’ve sheepishly been calling it “the aughts” expecting derision, but so far so good. I wonder what it will be like to have nostalgia for this decade. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/28 "2006-10-18T03:52:02Z")
There was a W in **slortar’s** original phrase (“The Decade Which Shall Not Be Named”). ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/29 "2006-10-18T04:06:16Z")
We will call it what we call the 1900s–the turn of the century. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/30 "2006-10-18T12:41:47Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] No,no,no you can’t call it the “aughts”. Because you Brits no longer rule the world. And we Yanks just never, ever,ever use the world “aught”. We say “zero” for mathematical use, “none” or “nil” when reporting sports scores, and “oh” when saying phone numbers. But “aught” just doesn’t exist in America. (and besides, it sounds silly) I vote for calling the new decade based on the same thing we called it a hundred years ago: “the turn of the century”. Except that “turn of the century” sounds very,very old fashioned. So why not modernize it to “turn of the millenium” ? [/QUOTE] Hey, hold up there a minute. The only people here bandying around ‘aughts’ are Yanks. ‘Aughts’ is unheard of here - we’d say ‘naught’ as an alternative for zero, and as such, ‘naughties’ is often used (also, because it sounds saucy). ---
**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:** [October 18, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/31 "2006-10-18T13:04:39Z")
I like the O’s. Aughts and naughts are too quaint. Zips wouldn’t be bad. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/32 "2006-10-18T13:05:48Z")
[QUOTE=SanVito] Hey, hold up there a minute. The only people here bandying around ‘aughts’ are Yanks. ‘Aughts’ is unheard of here - we’d say ‘naught’ as an alternative for zero, and as such, ‘naughties’ is often used (also, because it sounds saucy). [/QUOTE] “Naught” doesn’t exist in American English, either 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/33 "2006-10-18T13:24:57Z")
[QUOTE=Martha] The “noughties” (pronounced “naughties”) was suggested, but it never caught on. [/QUOTE] It has over here, in the media at least. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/34 "2006-10-18T23:29:29Z")
I call it the the naughties, and will continue to use it until I hear something better. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/35 "2006-10-18T23:34:21Z")
Hmm, I haven’t thought about it. Then again, I have not yet needed to call this decade anything. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/36 "2006-10-19T00:37:31Z")
The aught naught decade. The The naughty aughties. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/37 "2006-10-19T01:40:39Z")
Another vote for “the uh-oh’s”. It’s so fitting. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/38 "2006-10-19T02:07:57Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] “Naught” doesn’t exist in American English, either 😛 [/QUOTE] Yes it does. Your post is for naught. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/39 "2006-10-19T02:36:32Z")
Sorry naughties, naughts, aughts, and uh-oh spaghetti-O’s - but plain old “ohs” makes the most sense, since as previously pointed out, we do say oh-4, oh-5, oh-6 etc. You can fight for your nerd-words all you want, but my money is that it will end up being the ohs. Just embrace it now. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782/40 "2006-10-19T03:46:13Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] I will call it “George”. [/QUOTE] Why do you hate this decade so much? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-calling-this-decade/376782.md?page=3)