Well the future years that we sometimes talk about, “2012” and “2020,” are pronounced “twenty twelve” and “twenty twenty.” I think we’ll drop the “two thousand” as soon as we get out of this decade. After all, “twenty eight” doesn’t make any sense right now.
Anyway, I’m always amazed for the enthusiasm for “aughts” and “naughts” on these boards. Those terms are so ridiculously outdated, they sound downright silly to the modern ear. People, please don’t use these in real life!
As for what to call this decade, i’m rooting for “the first decade [ie of the twentieth century or of the third millenium].” It sounds so prophetic. I guess it’s either that or “two thousands” or, more reasonably but maybe less likely, “the ohs” since after all that’s the prefix we’ve been using for every year. “The ohs” however sounds kind of dumb which is why I don’t think we’ll really use it.
We’re now in the last year of the decade and we still haven’t figured out what to call it. The truth should have been obvious all along, we won’t call it anything. It will indeed be ‘the first decade of the 21st century’, as its predecessor was of the 20th. The decade coming will also in all probability be nameless.
The fact is that unless it’s obvious what abbreviation a decade should have then people won’t use one, and all the fancy attempts to pin a snappy name on it will wither and die.
Yes, and as to how people will shorten it, as in “class of '71”…they won’t (and haven’t, in my experience). Everyone I’ve ever met just says “class of two-thousand” (even if they write '00) or “class of two-thousand-three” (or sometimes “class of oh-three”) etc. Even if we’re saying “oh-three,” “oh-four,” “oh-nine” etc., that will change next year because “class of ten” sounds pretty silly. So it’ll be “class of two-thousand-ten,” “two-thousand-eleven,” “two-thousand-twelve,” and so on until thankfully we reach the roaring twenties again and don’t have to deal with it again for another 80 years or so.
As a member of the class of 2000 let me just say I swear off calling it the class of two thousand and will forevermore call it the class of Naughty ;-).
Good god, man, it’s called a typo! My brain got ahead of my fingers and my spelling of “lead” was affected by the spelling of “unwieldy.” To impinge my English skills as a result of a simple typo is uncharitable at best.
Powers &8^]
I think you mean “impugn”. I don’t thinkFlipbustle was meaning you specifically with that comment about Americans. I think it was meant as a general observation about the English language and Americans in general.
It’s Class of 2000. Class of '09 (oh nine). Class of '10 (ten) or 2010 (twenty ten). The decades above will be the twenties, the thirties, etc. The current one will likely be the 2000s (two-thousands), unless someone really cranks up the internet meme and it takes off in the teen crowd. The next decade will likely be the “teens”, though there’s an outside chance the “teenies” will win out.
troub said:
Why does “ten” sound silly but “seventy one” or “eighty six” or “ninety nine” sound reasonable? They’re all just numbers that stand for the year. We’re using “oh eight” and “oh nine” because we think of two digit dates, but “ten” is two digits. I think we will comfortably call the years “ten”, “eleven”, etc, though some people and/or circumstances will call for “twenty-ten” to be more precise.