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.
2010
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 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?”
Your assuming this isn’t a stupid question.
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.
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.
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
Most people I know start at 2010.
My brain hurts. I’ve just spent like 3 minutes stating how the “and” isn’t something I ever heard before. Then I said how it goes all the way to 2019. Then I remembered I don’t remember anyone calling it Two Thousand Nineteen. It’s Twenty Nineteen. But 2011 is Two Thousand Elevin, but I HAVE heard Twenty Elevin. And same with 2010.
So now it becomes a matter of geolocation region preferences. Different people switched over at different times. And I am NOT about to go spend my time researching thousands of different data points of who says what and when.
screams into a pillow
People may have also switched some years retroactively. I definitely said two thousand ten back then, but would say twenty ten now.
…no no no no…you’re making it even MORE complicated!!!
screams wildly into pillows
I say “twenty” for all of them now, like “twenty oh nine”. “twenty hundred” sounds weird now, but I guarantee eventually people will forget about ever calling them “two thousand and”.
If you want to be a bit pedantic the and is incorrect for a year. When you say a number the and should be to denote a decimal portion of a number. It’s generally not always used that way so context is often required to determine the intent.
I know that’s what they try to teach you in math in school, but absolutely nobody does it that way in practice, making it just wrong to teach it.
" Disney’s 100.1 Dalmatians "
It’s an unrated cut.
2010-2012 I’d say
I agree,
2009 and before have to be “two thousand and” style
2013 and after have to be “twenty-” style
The years between can be either, but I’d lean toward using “twenty-” style for those too.
How do you say 1901 then? One thousand nine hundred and one? Nineteen hundred and one? Or nineteen oh one? Have you ever heard of the Eighteen Hundred and Twelve Overture?
I’m in the “twenty oh one” etc camp, it’s concise and consistent.
Nineteen oh one
But “two thousand and one” is different since it’s a millienium. I would also say “one thousand and one”, not “ten oh one”
