Debate about how to pronounce the upcoming years is heating up. I mean, we’ve been chugging along since the new millenium with “Two Thousand, Two Thousand One, etc.” and all of a sudden some people out there will be changing this pattern in January with “Twenty Ten”. The International Olympics Committee and Vancouver 2010 are officially referring to this winter’s Olympics in Vancouver as the “Twenty Ten Olympics”. And then there are those who feel the pronounciation will not convert to “twenty-something” until 2011.
How did we get into such a mess? Last century we were pretty consistent with, for example, 1909 and 1910 as “Nineteen Oh Nine” and “Nineteen Ten”. So why the problem this century?
Two words: Stanley Kubrick.
Say “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Go ahead, say it. You’re saying “Two Thousand One”, aren’t you…AREN’T YOU????
So we can blame the marketing wizards behind this Hollywood production for mucking us up now. We were brainwashed into saying “Two Thousand One” since 1968, which is pronounced, by the way, as “nineteen sixty-eight”. As opposed to “One Thousand Nine Hundred Sixty-Eight” (and don’t get me started on whether or not there is an “and” before the “sixty-eight” – you should have learned all that in Consumer Ed. class when you learned how to write checks – oh, I should point out that checks are little pieces of paper that you sometimes see little old ladies slowly pulling out of their pocketbooks in front of you at the grocery check-out line about 5 minutes AFTER the checker has told her how much her total is.)
Where was I? Oh yeah, 2010. And while the Hollywood do-as-I-sayers would have you believe that you pronounce it as “Two Thousand Ten”, the Olympic Committee will have no more of this crap and have worked tirelessly to promote the “Twenty Ten” Olympics. These are the same language nazis who forgave us our “Two Thousand” transgressions when Y2K first appeared, but who now refuse to understand why we didn’t next follow suit with “Twenty Ought One”, “Twenty Ought Two”,…etc.
Well, Mr. Olympic Committee Chairperson Snobby McSnobberson, I don’t think you “ought” to tell us how to pronounce our own language. I think you “ought” to mind your own beeswax. In fact, you “ought” to feel lucky we will even watch your stupid two-week long TV show, or miniseries, or whatever that overly-sponsored global sporting event thing that you have is.
And while I have you on the line, Mr. McSnobberson, what the heck is the Skeleton event? And can you use “skeleton” like a verb? Can you go skeletoning? And while you’re at it, maybe you “ought” to tell us how to pronounce it.
Hey, I forgot to tell you guys last week that I met Gladys from Gladys Tells All when she blew through Sacramento. I love meeting fellow bloggers. I realize I risk my life meeting them in person, and I probably shouldn’t agree to being dropped off blind-folded in a dark cat-pee-stained alley, but I’m kind of desperate for friends and lucky for me, Gladys was awesome!
thanks for pointing out this problem. Olympic committee doesn't have many friends here in Chicago anymore so I'm thinking Chicagoans might just do the opposite on their recommendation.
Your mention of Y2K has my thinking of another option 2Kten
2Kten…. that's brilliant!
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Twenty-ten. And I'm not changing. lol!!
I'm not sure what to think anymore. I heard on NPR a woman commenting on a sign she saw at a high school that read “Class of twenty-oh-ten ROCKS!”
I love it! I too find it pretty interesting how people pronounce the year and how it has changed. I say be a rebel and change it up.. surprise people and never say it the same way twice!
I say it either way, depends on what setting it is, but I think I prefer two thousand ten – without the “and” because middleagedwoman is correct in what she says about the word “and”, it means “decimal point”. I can't stand when people say “oh ten” – The Hubs says that and I correct him all the time. UGH!!
I'm going with Twenty Ten on this one… rolls off the tongue more easily.
But the world is going to end in 2012 anyhow…so who cares. 🙂
That is funny. I'm not sure what all the hype is. Just ten years ago we were saying 19, 98 for 1998. So why can't we go back to it now?
Very interesting. I hadn't thought about it. It did make me wonder about cars..stick with me. If someone asks me what year my car is I say “Oh eight” which to me sounds better than, say with new cars it is a “ten”… you really like the car or is it a two thousand ten.. or an “eleven” I really love my car.. get my point or am I just weird
I totally get your point, vodkalogic. I'm going to avoid ever buying a 2010
or 2011 model car just so I don't have to answer this question. I'm getting
all cold and clammy just thinking about it!
I though you would like this goat video. Its for a good cause too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1yinqadxuQ
Hi Amy!
JD at I Do Things showed this “I Want a Goat” video to me recently. Of
course, then I started watching all the other parodies. I would have
included it as a Goat Thing of the Day, but it's a little on the frackin'
vulgar side.
🙂
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I'm still writing 1999 on my checks, I haven't made it into the new century yet 🙂
xo
Very good points. I am a strict believer in Two Thousand Ten, but my husband believes in Twenty Ten. I'm just sad that I can't talk about the 'aughts anymore. But you'd better believe I will be taking full advantage of the phrase, “Back in Aught Nine we wore an onion on our belts. Which was the style at the time.”
Well, crap. I thought I looked it up and was supposed to use “ought”. Now
it's “aught”? Boy, is my face red.
Never heard of this debate! I have no idea what I will call it…..but I think I will stick with Two Thousand Ten.
You are awesome…and hysterical! I worship at the altar of your humor. Thanks for checking out my site, thought I'd return the favor. I'm so pleased to find your site chock full of pants wetting material. Like all the pregnancies didn't do it for me! I'll be back soon.
Alex
Alls I know is that Charles Osgood from CBS Sunday morning would say “twenty Oh Ten” and I would cringe 😉 Do I sound like an old person or does anyone under 65 besides me watch that show?
I call it two thousand ten. Twenty ten just sounds like a room number or something. I don't like it.
If I'm not mistaken, the skeleton event is where they throw some guy down a big hill, or to think of it another way, the one man luge without a luge. Something like that. It got its name in 1992, when a Finn named Teppo Tipponen whooshed down Mt. Fuji, ricocheted off no fewer than seven trees, and all the paramedics could find of his remains was his . . . wait for it . . . skeleton.
As I said, I could be mistaken.
Twenty-ten rolls off the tongue SO much more efficiently. What can I say? I'm all about the lazy.
We got married in 2000. So when we were ordering our invitations, it took me a while to decide on putting “the year” 2000. I ended up doing it because
Saturday
The Fifteenth of July
2000
looked funny.
And starting next year, I'm calling it twenty-ten.
Hi, my name is Nezzy and I am an American from the hills and hollers of the Ozarks in Missouri and I'm gonna say two~thousand and ten. Nope, not any committee in any country skeletoning anywhere gonna' scare this chick into anything different. Nope, never~ever, Nezzy is set in her ways.
Ya'll have a fantastic weekend!!! :o)
Oooh. I love how you slip “ought” in there, you clever girl.
I go with whichever version has the fewest (not least!) syllables, which is 2010. That's JD-style, by the way, not Olympics style. And because “two thousand one” and “twenty oh one” have the same number of syllables, I'm going to be freaking out the public by referring to that movie as “Twenty oh one” and seeing what kind of pandemonium breaks loose.
(And doesn't Y2K seem like a loooong time ago?)
I've been calling them “Two Thousand Nine” etc. but am planning to switch back to Twenty-Ten next year. Just like that OTHER movie involving monoliths and set in a wildly overoptimistic future.
I'm on the “Twenty-Ten” side … Two Thousand Ten is like say “One dollar and eight cents” (the 'and' belongs there). As opposed to saying 'a buck eighty'. Maybe I'm just into shorthand … and 'Oh Ten' just makes absolutely no sense … we never said “Nine Ninety Eight” for 1998, did we? Nine Ninety Eight is the price of something in a store.
Where I come from we pro-nunce it “Twenty ought ten” or Two zero one zero or sometimes What the hell year is it Edna?
Oh and I'm sorry about the cat urine soaked alleyway…I did however enjoy the homeless guy making obscene gestures through the window of the cafe.
“I probably shouldn't agree to being dropped off blind-folded in a dark cat-pee-stained alley….”
Stop!….my stomach hurts from laughing!
twenty-ten is all well and good, but try saying twenty-eleven ten times fast
I know! It's all so awkward. I hate trying to figure out how to pronounce the shortened years they use to announce the graduating classes. Class of '96 was so easy. How do you say Class of '00? Did anyone ever say Class of oh-oh? I just always said two-thousand.
I do have to say I'd definitely pronounce it “Twenty One Ten” for 2110, but I'm still conflicted over “Twenty Ten” 2010. That's how I read it, but I feel better saying “Two Thousand Ten”.
I think I might try “Twenty Half Twenty” and “Twenty Half Twenty Minus One” for this year…
Why not just base pronunciation off what we know?
“Nineteen Hundred One Hundred Ten”
Or
“Two Kay Ten”
or, if you want snub your nose at all languages that weren't designed to be international in flavour (<- note the u), you could say “Du Mil Dek” and flex your Esperanto muscles.
I'm one of those old bitties with the check book…but I do try to write fast. 🙂
Not sure I like 20-somethings.
Okay, Super Math Lady here to save the day. One thousand nine hundred AND sixty-eight looks like this: 1900.68 The AND means decimal, like on a check. I like twenty-ten, and my friend that introduced me to science fiction called the book twenty-oh-one.
Twenty-ten. Though, I'm more interested in the shortened version (like “back in sixty-eight”) because it's just one syllable.”Oh-ten” just doesn't work at all and “ten” just sounds weird on it's own.
Geez my comment was deleted. Here it is again:
Well in this year, two thousand and nine, the year of the Bull or the Earth Ox in Chinese tradition BTW, it's fun to meet other bloggers. I'm gonna pop over and pay Gladys a visit.
Well in this year of two thousand AND nine, the year of the Bull or the earth Ox in Chinese tradition BTW, it's always a pleasure to meet other bloggers. I must pop on over and pay Gladys a visit.
How nice you got to meet another blogger.
I always thought it was two thousand and…but we are generally lazy folk and twenty whatever is quicker.
it's two thousand ten….or twenty ten….or just oh ten…or easiest of all – next year!
LOL you are too funny – and that's what keeps me coming back! Have a great day! ;o)
I say “Two Thousand Ten” and probably always will…”Two Thousand Twenty”. I also say “roof” (rhymes with oooof), “coupon” (coopon), “either” (I-ther)…
Twenty-ten? Oh, that's just wrong. It's two thousand ten. Give 'em hell!
Very interesting. I thought the movie 2012 would be pronounced the same way, but I think it's pronounced Two Thousand Twelve.