What shall we call the decade that is ending?

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Fraggle Rocker, Dec 27, 2009.

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What shall we call the decade that's ending?

  1. The Aughts

    3 vote(s)
    10.3%
  2. The Oh's

    8 vote(s)
    27.6%
  3. The Zeros

    5 vote(s)
    17.2%
  4. The Uh-Oh's

    2 vote(s)
    6.9%
  5. The Oooh's

    1 vote(s)
    3.4%
  6. Something else (see my post)

    12 vote(s)
    41.4%
  7. I have no idea!

    6 vote(s)
    20.7%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. phlogistician Banned Banned

    Messages:
    10,342
    'Zed' because of the 'z' in 'zero'?

    Tangential at best. 'Noughties' rules.
     
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  3. John99 Banned Banned

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    22,046
    Why do you?

    Call it the twenty tens. Cant call it the 20's because that would get confused with the 1920s. Next decade will have the same issue so call that the 2020s. Problem solved.
     
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  5. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    Sure we can. Nobody talks about the 1920s anymore. We didn't have any trouble with the 90s. The new decade can just be the Teens. I never heard any oldtimers talk about the 1910s. Probably because it was dominated by the war and everybody wanted to forget it.
     
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  7. Enmos Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    43,184
    What are we going to call 2010-2019? Tens? Doesn't sound right..
     
  8. Spud Emperor solanaceous common tater Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,899
    If we call that the tens, we should call this 'the units'
     
  9. Spud Emperor solanaceous common tater Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,899
    Errr, I patented it already!!
     
  10. John99 Banned Banned

    Messages:
    22,046
    ha ha...thats true.
     
  11. sandy Banned Banned

    Messages:
    7,926
    I would have called it the "Oh's" as in 0. (Not zero.) But now with Obama I would call it the "Oh-no's!"
     
  12. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    Until now there was no really reason to use it except THIS decade. From now on we do need to refer to it some other way... I went with augths...
     
  13. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    What's wrong with "the Teens"? Once we get to 2013 they will all contain that morpheme.
    So did the Washington Post and that's a fairly influential newspaper. I suspect the others will follow suit, especially since journalists love short words.
     
  14. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    43,184
    I know, but it doesn't sound right. There ought to be two syllables..

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  15. John99 Banned Banned

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    22,046
    Lets eliminate it and this decade and go right to the 20s.
     
  16. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    "Aughts" only has one syllable and apparently we're going to use than name twice.
     
  17. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    43,184
    My apologies, I have absolutely no idea what 'aughts' is

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    Edit: Alright, it's in the OP

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  18. Pinwheel Banned Banned

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    The Nothings.
     
  19. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    19,252
    Just finished reading Ben Goldacre's Bad Science (which I wish I'd bought when Nancy Malik started her pro-homoeopathy thread!), and he uses the word "naughties" (without expansion/ explanation) to mean 2000-2009.
     
  20. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    I suppose that means it's an Americanism, which will therefore not be popular in the rest of the anglophone world. But seven days into the decade I'd say it's well on its way to being established over here.
    It's cute and apparently, unlike "aughts," all anglophones understand it. It's just a little bit too cute.

    Forty years from now no one is going to want to be writing sentences like, "The naughties were marked by the financial collapse that culminated in the recent annexation of the former United States by the Hegemonia Latinomericana, and by a disproportionate and quixotic response to statistically insignificant and often bungled acts of terrorism which triggered the recent nuclear war between the now radioactive Middle Eastern nations."
     
  21. Pinwheel Banned Banned

    Messages:
    2,424
    The roaring zeds?
     
  22. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    "Zed" has the same problem in America that "aught" has everywhere else. Nobody has any idea what the word means. And we can't call it "the roaring zees" because "catching some zees" is slang for "sleeping," as in cartoon balloons for snoring.
     
  23. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,738
    How about "The Saudis"
     

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