2010: Two Thousand Ten, or Twenty Ten?
Posted: Jan 3, 2010 6:14 PM
Updated: Jan 3, 2010 6:21 PM
As the clock pushed us into the year 2010, there's a battle brewing: should the new year be called "twenty-ten," or "two thousand-ten?"
Many people refer to the last several years in longer-form, usually saying, for instance, "two thousand and nine." Continuing in that fashion would dictate referring to 2010 as "two thousand and ten."
But the counter-argument is that historically, we refer to the 10th year of a decade in shorter-form, such as referring to the year 1910 as "nineteen-ten."
Poll results are no longer available.
There's even a website devoted to spreading the message about the "proper" way to pronounce the year: http://www.twentynot2000.com/ According to the website:
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!
KRTVs sister station in Billings, KTVQ, aired a story about the difference in opinions, and we'd like to know what you think. Vote in the poll, and/or leave a comment here to share your point of view.
