2010: Twenty-Ten, Not Two-Thousand-And-Ten

When you first exclaim "2010" out loud, as you ring in the New Year later tonight, say "twenty-ten" not "two-thousand-and-ten."

Why?

Because the former is two words shorter than the latter, as the web site Twentynot2000.com points out. In our shortening, 140-character tweeting vernacular, brevity matters.

According to the site:

Say the year "1810" out loud. Now say the year "1999" out loud. See a pattern? It's been easier, faster, and shorter to say years this way for every decade (except for the one that just ended) instead of saying the number the long way. However, many people are carrying the way they said years from last decade over to this decade as a bad habit. If we don't fix this now, we'll be stuck saying years the long way for the next 89 years. Don't let that happen!

The "twenty-ten" movement -- and it is just that -- is spreading online. The Facebook group "It's Twenty-ten, not Two-thousand and ten" lists 593 members. Valerie Wilkinson, a new member, wrote on the group's wall: "Think ahead ten years. It has to be 'twenty-twenty'! I'm already picturing graduating students wearing glasses with their caps and gowns." There's also a Facebook fan page and "Saying 'Twenty-Ten' Instead of 'Two-Thousand-Ten' Because It Sounds Cooler" has even more members -- nearing 20,000.

Comments

[Plomomedia]

01:54 AM on 01/07/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi6VJd9gSfk

[RevSpaminator]

02:21 PM on 01/04/2010

Since the common justification for the "Twenty-Ten" pronunciation is for our twittering vernacular (much of which bears an eerie resemblance to Orwell's New Speak) , maybe 2.01K would be ++good. :)

[jmar829]

01:14 PM on 01/04/2010

How 'bout..........10. Just.........10!

[RevSpaminator]

12:33 PM on 01/04/2010

Buck the system...Two Thousand Ten. Try and make me say it the other way. :)

[SolarTown]

01:17 PM on 01/03/2010

I reluctantly concede that 20-10 is inevitable. This is an excerpt of my blog entry.
For most of the decade we struggled with the names for the years. Most used the “full name” for the year. Thus, Bush was inaugurated in two thousand one, and Obama won the election in two thousand eight (even so some tried to insert the incorrect and pretentious “and” between thousand and eight.)
As the decade has been winding down, our ideological purity has given way to economy of words. Although jarring to my ear, a minority have begun to call this year twenty-o-nine. No other language economizes the zero with an "o".
Most news media gallantly maintained their linguistic purity throughout most of the decade, talking about two thousand ten, and the upcoming election in two thousand twelve. The bond traders were never convinced. They always sold twenty-fifteen bonds, never two thousand fifteen bonds. But as 2010 approaches, few can resist the economical twenty-ten. The die was cast by the song “In the Year 2525.” The lyrics pointedly did not refer to the year “two thousand five hundred twenty five.”
As much as I would like to greet two thousand ten, I know that when the cork on the champagne is uncorked on New Year’s Eve, we will welcome the New Year, twenty ten. For moore, see
http://www.solartown.com/blog/2009/12/the-linguistic-version-of-y2k-the-two-thousand-ten-meltdown/

[Johnathon Gallias]

08:21 AM on 01/03/2010

WHOOOOOOO CARES?

[Nikkiefied]

06:55 PM on 01/04/2010

Me. And you, obviously, since you read the article.

http://www.speakonit.com/

[Lamourie]

09:05 PM on 01/02/2010

What's taken you all so long? Remember listening to Charlie Osgood on CBS Radio's "The Osgood File" in 2001? He always said "twenty-o-one" from the get-go. So did I, through the years to twenty-o-nine. A few cool, logical, and progressive people did so too... including the news staff of WKBK Radio 1290 in Keene, NH, to name a few. After all, most people say "nineteen-o-five" instead of "one thousand nine hundred five".
Twenty-ten it is. The only place "two thousand ten" is appropriate is on an engraved wedding invitation, or in specifying a number instead of a year, as in "two thousand ten dollars" for $2010. If you are saying it in casual conversation, you are being way too formal!

[bobbobato]

10:36 AM on 01/02/2010

If the switch doesn't happen now there's no reason why it shouldn't happen later. In the first half of the 20th century, many said 'nineteen-hundred..." or, for the 1900s decade, "nineteen-four".

[Schoolgirl666]

10:15 AM on 01/02/2010

...and it will be the decade of the 10's.....

[RButler]

09:41 PM on 01/01/2010

How about 'MMX'?

[Billy Adams]

07:08 PM on 01/01/2010

If you persist in saying Two Thousand##, you must precede it every time with "In the year of our Lord..."

[cef911f1]

10:29 PM on 01/03/2010

Vader or Voldemort ?

[RevSpaminator]

01:20 PM on 01/04/2010

Lord Ash, Keeper of the Sacred Boom-Stick!

[Carolyn Davis]

12:01 PM on 01/01/2010

M i crooked letter crooked letter i humpback humpback i

[Bobgreen]

11:57 AM on 01/01/2010

I can go with that!

[RButler]

10:56 AM on 01/01/2010

I recall that some people, still in shock form 9/11, spent the next few months say 9-1-1 as in the emergency hotline number. You wouldn't say Christmas Day is one two two five.

I can still remember as a kid wondering how it would sound when we went from 1959 to 1960 to say 'a sixty Chevy' but we managed. I guess every generation has to learn the same things over and over.

Here's one for ya. When I press the keys on my microwave oven to read '1':00', it reads that as one minute. But, if I press ':60' it also reads that as one minute. I can press ':99' seconds but apparently not 100.

How did it happen that there's no year '0' (zero)?. If '1 AD' is only a year sooner than '1 BC', when was Christ born-midyear?

[cef911f1]

10:31 PM on 01/03/2010

The microwave thing is pretty perplexing isn't it?

[Philosopher-king]

10:34 AM on 01/01/2010

You must be kidding me? Right?