Throughout my life, I’ve always heard people refer to the early 21st century years as “two thousand and X”. For example, they pronounced 2001 as “two thousand and one”. In my experience, during the mid-2010s there seemed to be a shift in the way people said it, and the first time I heard someone say it differently was in 2016, where they pronounced it as “twenty sixteen”.
Most people I’ve heard pronounced the late-2010s years as “two thousand and X”, although the pronunciation “twenty X” had started to catch on fast. By the year 2020, almost nobody used the “two thousand and X” pronunciation, except for very old people I knew. For example, most people would pronounce 2024 as “twenty twenty-four” and not “two thousand and twenty-four”.
My question is: what year is the cutoff date for pronouncing the early 21st century years as “two thousand and X?” I’ve always heard people say it that way prior to 2016, I’ve never heard someone pronounce, say, 2007 as “twenty oh seven”.
I hope I was able to properly articulate what I’m trying to say.
Two thousand was obvious.
Two thousand and one as well, thanks to Stanley Kubrick.
I made a determined effort somewhere around 2004 to go back to the previous century’s naming, and call the first decade “aught,” as in “twenty aught six.”Nobody followed me in that.
Even so, I now refer to all years except 2000 and maybe 2001 as “twenty (aught/oh) <year>.” Good riddance to “two thousand seven” as a year.
Where my twelvethousandtwentyfive people at?! We don’t care about the Jesus, Neolithic Revolution all the way!
I always say
“two thousand”
“Oh one, oh two, oh three…”
“Twenty ten, twenty eleven…”*Two thousand and Twitter.
*two thousand and (formerly twitter)
For me it was
2000: Two thousand
2001: Two thousand one (or less formally “oh one”)
2009: Two thousand nine (“oh nine”)
2010: Twenty ten
And from there on. I think this is because of the amount of syllables. That’s why we switch to “twenty” instead of “two thousand”.
I personally say “o one” “o two” etc. all the way up to “o nine” After that it just seems weird to say “ten” or “eleven” instead of “twenty ten”
Even referring to 1910 as “ten” seems weird and wrong, though. In my mind, it doesn’t make sense to leave the nineteen off until the 40s. For example, saying: “Back in forty-five” sounds right, but “Back in thirty-five” sounds wrong to me for some reason.
Simple as.
You’re on to something but I doubt it’s the syllables. Rather it seems about phonetic ambiguity.
“twentynine” could mean both 29 and 2009, so it’s better to use “twothousandandnine” for the latter. “twentyten” cannot be interpreted as 30, only as 2010.
You can do “2009” as “twenty oh 9”, but that feels kinda awkward. “Two thousand nine” has the same number of syllables (4). “Twenty ten” is 3. “Two thousand ten” is 4.
Even “1900” is “nineteen hundred” (4) vs “one thousand nine hundred” (6).
ETA: I’m the class of “Oh two” rather than “zero two” because the former is one less syllable.
Twenty aught nine
I remember discussing this in 1998ish and the concensus then was saying "twenty ___ " only.made sense statting in 2020. I actually started doing in the early 2010’s.
I was saying “twenty oh x” in 2001. Twenty oh one. Twenty oh two. And so on. I only ever said “two thousand” for 2000. Because “twenty oh oh” sounds dumb.
1999
Man…I’m just sooooo SO pissed off at language. In the 90s, I loved calling the current decade “the 90s”. Then 2000 came, and people were like “It’s the aughts!” to which I said “NO! FUCK YOU! I HATE IT, AND YOU SHOULD BURN IN A POOL OF NAPALM FOR EVEN SUGGESTING THAT!!!”
That being said 2000-2010 and 2010-2020 don’t have a cool term for either of their respective decade names. So for 20 years I’ve been saying “OH MAN!!! I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL 2020 WHEN WE CAN END THIS MADNESS, AND CALL IT THE 20s AGAIN!!!”
Imagine my disappointment. Waiting 20 years for the year 2020 to arrive, excited to see what 2020 would bring. And then…2020 happened. Now, if you forget what happened that year, that would be a result of the covid affecting your brain, and also your psyche trying to mentally block out images of horror. It’s something that brains do when faced with intense psychological horror. Which is exactly how I would describe 2020. Imagine waiting 20 years, and THAT’S what you get.
Fuck
Earth.
The noughties, the teenies, and the twenties.
burns that pile of tinder you call a home go the ground
2013+
In twenty oh one.
So I skip twenty oh oh (twenty hundred?) in favor of the year two thousand
I also started using the new nomenclature after 2009. It also coincided to when I finished school so it kinda fit the change in lifestyle.
2010, simply because of how english works.
If you say 2001 as twenty one, it’s confusing. Same goes all the way up to “twenty nine”.
And it’s more garbled and slower to say “twenty oh one” vs “two thousand one”, especially if you’re speaking quickly.
“Twenty ten” and up, however, starts making sense as a different piece of information and can be used easily.
I say twenty oh one just because i dislike inconsistency and prefer twenty oh over two thousand
Your assuming this isn’t a stupid question.
I was gonna say most of this. I would just add that now, when referring to a year between 2001 and 2009, I just say “oh [number]”. So I’d say “Did Batman Begins come out in '05 or '06?”
2010
2010 but skipping 2011 because twenty eleven sounds weird out loud imo
Seven Eleven has left the chat
