It’s Twenty-ten, not Two-thousand and Ten

Glad to be back from St. Louis. Happy New Year everyone!

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!

Link.

If you’re not creative, like me, check out the New Years Resolution Generator.

4 Comments

Chris January 3, 2010 Reply

Because I like to do things different, I'm calling it Two Oh Ten. So there. =)

gloria January 4, 2010 Reply

hmmm. no postings from under the booth table i see. good seeing you again. :)

Jen January 4, 2010 Reply

@chris: haha…i'd like to see what reactions you get.

@gloria: haha…no, no posting from under the booth table, only napping. good to see you and pradeep last week!

Susan January 11, 2010 Reply

In my opinion we have been saying "two thousand x" instead of "twenty x" because the the century part of the year ends in a vowel sound instead of an "n". It's actually more difficult to clearly say "twentee-oh-nine" than it is to clearly say "two thousand nine". I have a feeling that once 2011 is over (the last year there is no consonantal stop between the century and the decade), people will just automatically start saying "twenty-whatever".

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