Since the '20s, '30s, etc. are the same in every century, regardless of whether that century be the first in a given millenium, the '00s and '10s should also be the same in every century. Thus whatever you called the first decade of the 1900s, and also whatever you called the second one, should be replicated in the 2000s. The years of the first decade of 1900, after 1900 itself, do not have 2 aughts in them, and also 2010, 2020, etc. do have 2 aughts in them. So the choice of that gun-nut is no good, no matter how macho.
I think you would have to call the first decade the ‘aughts’ and the second the ‘teens’. Maybe I’ll drop dead before I have to worry about such things.
I find it amazing that so many people are so concerned about such a trivial question, as though society would stop dead because we can’t come to an agreement as to what to call a decade. If no one thinks of a name, who cares? There’s no real name for the years 1900-1909, yet history still marches on.
Eventually, a name may be coined. Or it may not. But it’s hard to understand why people are so concerned about the issue.
I think “The Ohs” makes the most sense. With the exception of 2000 itself (which I’ll be calling “two thousand”), I’d wager most people will refer to the years of that decade as “twenty-oh-whatever”.
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Why not just call it “The New Millenium”? That does seem to be the fad these days, just tack that on to whatever - “It’s the toilet plunger for The New Millenium!” - even if it doesn’t apply. So, doubtless, everyone will just call it “The New Millenium” until we all get sick of it, right around Midnight, Dec. 25th, 2009. Then some reporter will say, “It’s another new year in The New Millenium!” Then someone will punch him, and that will be the end of it.
SanibelMan – The Man From Sanibel
“I like Florida; everything is in the eighties. The temperatures, the ages, and the IQs.”
– George Carlin
I would say that it will be the “two ohs” which fits nicely as it works well with several interpretations, ie. a 2 and two 0’s = two ohs , 2 zeros = two ohs, and probably because it fits closely with 2k, the letter theme you know. That’d be my guess.