Flare Sci-Fi Forums: 2000 Speak?

This is topic 2000 Speak? in forum Officers' Lounge at Flare Sci-Fi Forums.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://flare.solareclipse.net/ultimatebb.php/topic/10/999.html

Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :

Okay, this has been running through my mind for a while, and I think it needs to be asked: How do we appropriately refer to the next few decades?

For most of us, we have grown up with a nice system of decade names:

1920s = "Nineteen twenties."
1930s = "Nineteen thirties."
.
.
.
1980s = "Nineteen eighties."
1990s = "Nineteen nineties."

I assume this structure will continue for the 2020s and beyond:

2020s = "Twenty twenties."
2030s = "Twenty thirties."
.
.
.
2080s = "Twenty eighties."
2090s = "Twenty nineties."

But how do we refer to the next two decades?

2000s = "Two thousands?"
2000s = "Twenty zeroes?"

2010s = "Twenty tens?"
2010s = "Twenty teens?"

Does anybody know?

------------------
"We exist in a boundless time continuum. There is no weekend!"

- Zorak, "Hungry," Space Ghost: Coast to Coast.

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

I was talking to someone about this the other day and they just sat there and looked at me. Apparently, they had no idea either.

I guess we just say "this decade" or "last decade"?

------------------
Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

Posted by Coddman (Member # 10) on :

Uggh...*shrug* *O_o*

------------------
I just turned 17! Well, it beats my other sig.
[ www.linneberg.com ] | [ [email protected] ]

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

The answer is obvious.
Twenty 'aught one.
Twenty 'aught two.
Etc.

Yes, now Generations X and whatever is post X can enjoy sounding retro in their daily conversations!

------------------
"20th Century, go to sleep."
--
R.E.M.

Posted by Lt. Tom on :

Krenim was asking about decades, not years.

I plan to call them the "two thousands" and the "twenty tens" unless someone comes up with a better plan. You didn't mention the 1900s and the 1910s, which have much the same problem--I just call them the "nineteen hundreds" and the "nineteen tens".

For years, you have a number of options. Two thousand one, two thousand and one, twenty-oh-one, twenty-aught-one... even if you want to use two-digit years (why?) there won't be a problem except for the year 2000 itself. I suppose you could use "oh-oh" or "aught-aught"; I'll just call it "two thousand", thank you very much.

Anyone who continues to refer to it as "Y2K" after tonight gets punched in the jaw.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Yes, I know. I assumed that my meaning was clear enough. We can call them the aughts.

------------------
"20th Century, go to sleep."
--
R.E.M.

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

And next year (less than 2 hours away from me) is "Double 'Aught", just like the buckshot that's (reputedly) so deadly.

------------------
CONSERVATIVE, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.
--Ambrose Bierce
Come Hither and Yawn...[/B]

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Well, I intend to say "two thousand", only because "twenty-hundred" doesn't strike the ear quite right. However, after that, I intend to use "twenty-oh-one", "twenty-oh-two", "twenty-ten", "twenty-eleven", etc.

------------------
"...more people buy Harry Potter novels than the works of Alexander Pope, but that's no measure of their quality."
-Tom Aylward-Nally, December 29, 1999

Posted by Alshrim Dax (Member # 258) on :

2K and 1
2k and 2
2k and 3
2k and 4

etc ....

ehehehehehe.

------------------
I feel more like I do now, then when I first got here!! :)

- Alshrim Dax
The Other Dax;

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

Nah! Too many syllables.

How about 2K Aught (or Naught) or 2KZ (for 2K Zero)?

Subsequent years: 2K1, 2K2, etc....

--Baloo

Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :

Yes, but what about the decade names?

------------------
"We exist in a boundless time continuum. There is no weekend!"

- Zorak, "Hungry," Space Ghost: Coast to Coast.

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

Look, there obviously isn't a comfortable way of referring to the next two decades without sounding akward, so let's just admit that, and move on with our lives. 'kay?

------------------
"Obesity. Adiposity. Corpulence. Whatever word you use, it represents one thing: being a big fatass."

Geraldo Rivera

Posted by bryce (Member # 42) on :

Katie Couric said something like the big O's last night!

------------------
Peace on Earth

Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :

What did they call them back in the 1900's and 1910's?

------------------
No I'm Spartacus!

Posted by Jaresh Inyo on :

We had a talk about this in one of my classes, and no one really got behind my idea for calling the next decade the "Matt Gurney's."

------------------
"I promise you, Wilma, that not one man on this force will rest until the criminal scum that did this are behind bars. Now let's go get a bite to eat." - Frank Drebbin, Detective Lieutenant in Police Squad