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What Do We Call This Decade Anyways? |
This month's topic is not that interesting, but it is a curious problem with ordinal numbers, a shortcoming of language that challenges us all. Just what exactly do we call this decade?
The problem first came to my attention when a local radio station programmed with Clear Channel's popular "Mix" format (practically every major market in the US has such a channel) changed their slogan from "The Best of the '70s, '80s, and 90's" to "The Best of the 80's, 90's, and Today".
Apparently the slogan writers have no idea what to call this decade spanning 2000-2009. They are not alone. This month we ring in 2003, the fourth year of the decade, and still we have no consensus on what we should call the decade we are living in.
For pretty much most of our lives we have had the ordinals to tell us what decade we are in. When we hear a decade we are reminded of the music and styles of that decade. Every time I here about the 50's (a decade I did not exist in) I picture cars with fins, poodle skirts, and Rock-a-Billy music. Then I hear about the 80's (a decade I did live through) I picture new-wave music, pastel "Alligator" shirts, and the hairdo sported by the lead singer of "A Flock of Seagulls". We all seem to have our own internal representation of all the 20th century decades from the "Roaring 20's" to the "Dot Com 90's"
Without a name, this decade could lack any identity. So, we need to give it some kind of name. Here are eight possible suggestions:
- The Two Thousands (2000's) - Seems obvious when you think about it, and I have seen it used in some places already, but not exactly the most mathematically sound, since technically the years 2000-2999 could all be called the 2000's as well.
- The Ohs (0's) - Nice short and simple, has a bit of a street slang quality to it. May take hold better after this decade is over, like "Hey remember back in the Ohs when the only thing we worried about was insane terrorists? Life was a lot simpler back in the Ohs."
- The Zeros - Not quite as cool sounding but at least it is accurate. May take hold better in the future as well as in: "Look at that woman in the super low jeans, she is so stuck in the zeros."
- The Oughts - This seems to be the popular way that people who lived in the 1900's refer to that decade. "The Spanish American War ended about ought-two" could easily change to "Brittany Spears career ended about ought-two"
- The Naughts - Sticking with the 0's theme it might seem more appropriate to call this decade the Naught decade, a good pun on the "Not" decade, which is appropriate considering how badly this decade has gone so far.
- The Oh-Ohs (00's) - A better pun than even "The Naughts". This one is my favorite.
- "The Turn of the Century/Millennium" - This is another borrowed from the 1900's. It is pretty much a give that any late 20th century author who used the phrase "Back around the turn of the century", they were referring to some time between 1900 and 1910. Some convention like this could eventually become popular.
- The (insert adjective or noun) Decade - Sometimes people refer to the 70's as the "Me" decade, and pretty much everyone understands what that means. Maybe someone will coin a good phrase that sums up this decade, and it will gain popular use. "The Terrorism Decade" seems obvious, but it is too dull and sad to really catch on. Between the tight security at airports and government buildings, the trade in personal information, the decline in privacy, the increase in corporate spying on their own employees, I am kind of inclined to offer "The Cavity Search Decade" as a suggestion. It is still too early in the decade to really decide on a definitive description.
Any other suggestions? I think we need to decide on something before we get to the 10's.
Here's a suggestion from reader Dermot:
Hey,
This decade should be called the "Naughties".
Seems obvious enough to me.
Lead to -> "That Naughty Show"
LOL!