The nineteen hundreds

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DrumsKing@reddit

I'd be happy to have people stop saying "Two thousand".

Its "twenty twenty-six" not "two thousand twenty six"

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Kreesto_1966@reddit

I came here to say this. It drives me crazy. Two thousand and twenty six is so much harder to say than twenty twenty six.

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AprilMay53@reddit

I’m a teacher and every morning we go over the same questions, starting with “What’s the date?” It’s always twenty twenty-six.

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corpus-luteum@reddit

twenty twenty six is not a legitimate number. It's two thousand and twenty six.

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Brizzy82-@reddit

This seems crazy. Did you really say “one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine” when it was 1999?

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Hefty_Win_8811@reddit

Years have never been referred to as "legitimate numbers." I was born in "nineteen seventy-four," not "one thousand nine hundred and seventy four." No one talks like that but you.

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EcstaticYoghurt7467@reddit

We had to do this through the aughts, specifically to avoid saying "aught". Once we hit 2010, or maybe 2011, I flipped.

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corpus-luteum@reddit

And that is the problem with the modern world. People too fucking lazy to do things correctly.

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Hefty_Win_8811@reddit

I say "two thousand" for 2000-2009, then start saying "twenty" for 2010 and up.

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I used to work for a company where the "other building down the street" was referred to by its address - 1818. Everyone in the company called it "eighteen- eighteen" except for one guy with autism who called it "one eight one eight".

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davro33@reddit

This is exactly how we solved the Y2K IT problem!

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Solid-Wish-1724@reddit

What even is this post? Who cares?

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Musubi0420@reddit

Welcome to reddit! (You can apply that to 99% of the entire platform) LOL!!!!😂

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Hedonistic_Yinzer@reddit

If you make a concerted effort to stop talking to people, this problem solves itself.

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dcamnc4143@reddit

I never add the 20xx. I just say back in 15, or what have you.

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corpus-luteum@reddit

Hard to say, really. Until we're out of the twenties.

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gilesachrist@reddit

Can you clarify? Not sure which century you reference.

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JT-Av8or@reddit

I haven’t said “20s” in years. I’ll say “back in 15” or “84” because in either case you should be able to figure out the beginning.

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SmokeyFrank@reddit

The year 2019 is recent enough to cause a hiccup when referencing it in conversation. That happens to be the year I started using a wheelchair and became a wheelchair athlete, and I was born in 1965.

So, I can say 60 to refer to my age but if I need to mention my birth year, “65” is similar enough to “60”. And when talking about my wheelchair sport and I’m asked when I started using one, i find myself saying “nine—teen” slower (to represent 2019) than I would if stating a 20th century year in full.

But referencing an event in the first decade of the 21st century, I’m comfortable reciting “oh-six”. At least I’m not saying “aught five,” like they did the The Music Man (1905).

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ScalieBoi42@reddit

Awww, but I like saying 'aught x' :>

But really, very interesting linguistic breakdown of the phenomena. Makes sense how it subconsciously formed that way.

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manic-pixie-attorney@reddit

Probably never. We said 1999 more often than 99.

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Robviously-duh@reddit

darned song...

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manic-pixie-attorney@reddit

Seriously though, it’s an unwritten rule that just the year without the centuries is only used in specific situations - graduation class is the pretty much only time you leave it out in actual speech

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Robviously-duh@reddit

still gunna party like it's 1999...

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small-gestures@reddit

Like in what way? Like “he was born in 26” ? I through 19 in front of my birth year now despite the fact that that year hasnt occurred this century. My thought is this started as part of the whole Y2K programming problem. We all became aware that we were straddling 2 centuries and just started being more fussy about it to avoid confusion.

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gjohill@reddit

Is this a big issue?

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Krazy_Kat_Lady_2025@reddit

My guess is when most people born in the 1900s have died and the majority of adults were born after 2000. I'm guessing about 2050.

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ofthrees@reddit

Yeah, this is my guess as well. Back half for sure, between the 50s and 60s.

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Historical_Project86@reddit

Seconded!

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corpus-luteum@reddit

I wouldn't worry about it. AI is going to rewrite every aspect of history, so it doesn't really matter what you call the year in which things didn't hasppen.

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Extension_Physics873@reddit

I'm completely comfortable using the "noughties" and "teens", but can't say "25", has to do 2025. It's weird.

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Darz167@reddit

I have been making a point to start writing '26 now instead of 2026. Trying to start a trend

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maddog2271@reddit

Yeah these roaring 20’s arent seeming to be as fun as what we heard about the last ones but we do seem to be getting plenty of reason to suspect a market crash and the return of Germany’s military.

My kid always rolls her eyes when I start telling her about things and says “uh oh, dad’s talking about the nineteen hundreds again!”. In response I am on a personal quest to bring back the use of the word “ought” so saying things like “remember when Lehman Brothers went, way back in ought-7? Thise were the start of the hard times”.

You know, going deep on the whole “onion on our belt as was the style at the time” sort of stuff. might as well embrace it is all I am saying.

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lljc00@reddit

"Aught"

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desolateheaven@reddit

I'm reading a memoir written in the late 1930s and the author, a highly educated man, frequently references his childhood as the Seventies.

I've also come across late c19 and early c20 references to the Hungry Fourties, the Gilded Seventies and the Gay Nineties. However the authors did not attribute a distinct character to each c19 decade. There had to be some marked social change or phenomenon that took place then. Otherwise they situated time periods according to the monarch or political leadership eg Wilhelmine Germany, the Napoleonic Era, the early/middle/ late Georgians, the Federal Period etc.

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imrickjamesbioch@reddit

What am I suppose to call the decade between 00 to 09? 2000’s seems to roll off the tongue 👅better than the decades of the 00’s. Even saying the 10’s don’t sound right…

I also drank lots of alcohol and did a ton of drugs growing up so Im the last person to ask…

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autofill-name@reddit

The noughties works.

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maddog2271@reddit

I’m telling ya, you gotta start saying “ought”. “Yeah I had a trip there back in ought-5 or ought-6…those were some good days.”

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ElSordo91@reddit

Probably not for a while yet, but probably at some point, one of the younger generations might start colloquially calling the decades of this century by abbreviations of some sort. But numerical assignations are very associated with the 20th century, and I think it's hard for our generations and those before us to break from that.

Those in the 1800s did identify their decades as the Seventies, the Eighties, etc., but they spelled it out, and didn't use numbers like we did. That's how we ended up with the "Gay Nineties," for example.

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BlacksmithThink9494@reddit

I feel like im not dead yet so the 20s is still 1920 to me. Once us 1900 ers die then maybe

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Commercial_Lock6205@reddit

Let me provide the natural GenX response. Who gives a shit?

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FatherFarnsworth@reddit

I am right now. And bud, I've been blocked up for a couple days and am seeing god at this point. And god looks kinda like my shower curtain.

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Da12khawk@reddit

OVER MY DEAD BODY!

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errantwit@reddit

I've stopped writing the leading digits when dating signatures on documents. Does that count?

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edwbuck@reddit

It might sound silly, but the Y2K problem should have been enough to let people know that dropping leading digits from a year was a really bad idea. Doing it all over again is sort of like not learning our lessons, all over again.

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frackthestupids@reddit

Not sure you’ve noticed, but learning lessons is frowned upon here sonny

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Da12khawk@reddit

Somebody git 'im!

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Chad_Hooper@reddit

Let’s be honest; growing up in the Cold War, we all think of everything after the 90s as bonus years. I feel compelled to underscore the fact that we lived longer than we ever imagined possible.

Fabulous Disaster. Blackened. Set the World Afire.

We had plenty of songs about nuclear war and the consequences of it. None that I can remember about nuclear disarmament or world peace.

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tilt-a-whirly-gig@reddit

Imagine

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Character-Twist-1409@reddit

We didn't start the fire

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Chad_Hooper@reddit

Ya know, it probably fits chronologically, but I never felt like this song belonged to our generation. It’s Generation Jones, or maybe even Boomer, culture in my mind.

YMMV.

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Dillenger69@reddit

In common speech? Probably once nobody born in the 1900s is left. Programmatically, never.

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RustySilver42@reddit

Came here to say that first part. The second part is definitely a lesson learned at the turn of the century.

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therocketn00b@reddit

That assumes it's inevitable for decades to be described like that, and I don't think it is. Was it ever like that before the 20th century? Did people in 1890 talk about the Civil War taking place in "the sixties?" If they did, I've never seen reference to it, and it doesn't sound quite right.

So it's quite possible that "the 70s" or "the 80s" will always refer to the 1970s and '80s.

But if we do end up doing it, I suspect it will be in the second half of the century, when the 1970s-90s will feel like a really long time ago.

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Chad_Hooper@reddit

That assumes it's inevitable for decades to be described like that, and I don't think it is. Was it ever like that before the 20th century? Did people in 1890 talk about the Civil War taking place in "the sixties?" If they did, I've never seen reference to it, and it doesn't sound quite right.

They may not have used this terminology in written correspondence or official documents, but it’s almost certain that they did in conversation. There would only have been one incidence of the 60s or 70s that could logically be in the living memory of the speaker, just as in our case.

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DimensionX@reddit

This is true. The term '49er was coined in the 19th century to describe miners descending on San Francisco at the time (1849). Pretty clear evidence that this convention was commonplace long before the 70s and 80s of our time.

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FortuneWhereThoutBe@reddit

I hate hearing the 20th century being referred to as the 1900s. The 1900's/19th century were 1800-1899.

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JasminJaded@reddit

Except they weren’t. The 1900s were the 20th century… because the first century was 0 through 99 AD

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99crazygirl@reddit

Yes, most of the 1900s were the 20th century; however, each century is 1 through 100, so the 20th century was 1901 through 2000, and the 21st century started January 2001.

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JasminJaded@reddit

Unless the first year AD doesn’t count, centuries start with 00 and go through 99. Argue all you want, doesn’t make you right.

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More_Pineapple3585@reddit

According to strict historical & scientific definitions, the century begins on January 1 of the year ending in 01 and ends on December 31 of the year ending in 00. For example, the 21st century started on January 1, 2001, and will end on December 31, 2100.

The strict mathematical definition stems from counting the very first 100-year block (1 AD to 100 AD), meaning the second century began in 101 AD, the third began in 201 AD, and so forth.

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JasminJaded@reddit

historical ^convention

Science uses intervals, which means math uses intervals. The first year, from a scientific perspective, is 0.

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icy_sylph@reddit

That was the 1800s. You got the 19th century part right, though.

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middlingachiever@reddit

The 1900s were the 20th century.

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luluislulu2520@reddit

Yeah I think it’ll just be weird for people that grew up in the 1900s (boy that feels weird to say!). I imagine those that grew up in the 2000s will soon start saying the 30s, 40s and so on.

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MaximumJones@reddit

After Y2K did we not learn anything about how dangerous it is to use two digits for the year???? 😳

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frackthestupids@reddit

Meh, we have over 70 years to correct it, not to worry

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MaximumJones@reddit

Are you sure?

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sitewolf@reddit

referring to the 20s and meaning the 2020s would seem odd, yes?

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Silly-Shoulder-6257@reddit

Probably cuz “zeros” and “teens” are awkward to say. Even “aughts” is awkward or unknown.

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SecretlyPissed@reddit

Gah tell it to my husband. He uses “aughts” every chance he gets, and nobody knows wtf he’s talking about. I mean it’s not his fault everyone is dumb but geez enough already.

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octopus_serenader@reddit

I do say "in the aughts" from time to time. I don't think it's going to really happen until mid-century when fashion and technology and events have changed enough that each decade has an identity. We may even start using "BAI" as a generic for "before artificial intelligence".

Right now it just seems like a mushy indistinguishable stream since 2000. But that may be my age showing too.

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shuanm@reddit

I'm just going out on a limb here, and saying that if someone said 01 to me, I wouldn't assume that they meant 1901. I think you have a valid argument...although, I'm not convinced younger people have any concept of time. My GenZ daughter's 10 minutes to go to the store, turns into 5 hours, if her kids are at my house.

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TowerOfSisyphus@reddit

I pronounced the the 2000s as "the ooze" and I'm really disappointed it didn't catch on as the defining way to refer to that decade. Any help you could provide with this matter would be much appreciated.

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Necessary_Giraffe_66@reddit

I’m going to say I probably never will. To me the 20s will always be the 1920s the 30s are the 1930s etc. So it’s always going to be 2020 or 2016 or 2030 when I’m talking about something.

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Material-Dream-4976@reddit

Not yet. Probably sometime after mid-century.

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No-Effort5109@reddit

Yep.

I feel like the 1990s were just ten years ago.

The fact that it will be the 25th anniversary of 9/11 this year is mind boggling.

And yet I have days where there Covid pandemic seemed like 20 yrs ago.

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Twizt1Up@reddit

I'll sound like my grandpa if I start calling the early 2000's "The oughts"

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WritingParking@reddit

I refused to say the oughts. It was early 2000’s, mid-2000’s, late 2000’s, in the 2000’s, just before 9/11, not long after 9/11, right before the economy collapsed, but never, ever did I say the oughts.

And anyone who refers to 1997 as the nineteen hundreds will get a swift kick in the pants from me.

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Necessary_Giraffe_66@reddit

100% agree

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First-Ad-7960@reddit

We learned our lesson when everything broke for Y2K.

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monstertruck567@reddit

Y21K is gonna be epic.

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Material-Dream-4976@reddit

Don't worry it won't actually get there.

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Competitive-Ad-9047@reddit

You youngins missed the Y2K scare. Our entire society collapsed.

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ku_78@reddit

As the official spokesperson for Gen X I am obliged to start with our anthem and say, whatever.

If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say once we get into the 30s we can can drop 20XX.

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False-Storm-5794@reddit

Reminds me of a movie quote from our time, "Once we get past the '80s, the '90s are gonna make the '60s look like the '50s"

I want to say Kiefer Sutherland and Dennis Hopper were in it.

Didn't really work out that way.

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ku_78@reddit

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ku_78@reddit

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Turbulent_Tale6497@reddit

Around the time we start to say "At the turn of the century" and mean 26 years ago, not 126

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Boom_Gate_Lady@reddit

Well we're currently in the 20s so we've only go the 10s to refer back to. Maybe in 10 years people will start referring to the 20s.

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Weary_Commission_346@reddit

If we start saying the 20’s, I’m thinking you’re talking about the Roaring 20’s. A completely different era.

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Will_Munny_7@reddit

The tens and the aughts

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hapster85@reddit

I've been doing that for years. I drive a '19 Dodge Caravan, my wife drives a '20 Ford Escape. Before that we had a '15 Escape.

It seems I stopped saying "two thousand" long before most people, too. I've been saying "twenty" since at least twenty-ten. It's now '26 and you got people out there still insisting on saying "two thousand". 🤷‍♂️

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superbad@reddit

Don’t we already?

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cjc4096@reddit

Ikr. Since 2001 became 01 in 02.

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xAlice_Liddell@reddit

When us oldies from the 1900’s are dead.

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SandersDelendaEst@reddit

“The 20s” will certainly be weird, and I will always think of the 1920s.

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AdhesiveSeaMonkey@reddit

How would you refer to the years from 2000-2009, or 2010-2019? There's no good word for that. And we're in the middle of the 2020's, so maybe in 5 years we'll start saying the 20's?

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Nervous-Till4096@reddit

The aughts

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middlingachiever@reddit

Aughts and 10s.

I already say aughts. It’s widely recognized.

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Material-Dream-4976@reddit

I call them the early 2000's and the twenty-tens.

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Express_Leading_4840@reddit

01 or whatever year or 11 for the teens.

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PennyG@reddit

The Noughties and the Twenty-teens

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bruce-neon@reddit

Hate it.

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crystal-torch@reddit

I do actually find my self saying back in ‘oh eight’ or ‘oh five’ etc on occasion. I cannot refer to ‘eleven’ or ‘fourteen’ that sounds way too weird. Haven’t done any of the twenties, that also seems weird. Maybe I’ll feel differently once we are in the thirties (that felt weird)

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monstertruck567@reddit

Oh eleven, oh twenty three??? I hear it often enough.

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monstertruck567@reddit

Officially any time after 4/27/2031 you can drop the 20. But until 4/28/31 you’re gonna have to make the effort. Sorry I don’t make the rules.

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JasminJaded@reddit

I thought everyone knew this. How is it even a question?!

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False-Storm-5794@reddit

We voted on it at the 08/07/2011 Illuminati meeting. You are exactly correct.

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Electrical-Bid-9577@reddit

I already do.

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invisiblebyday@reddit

It was only during the past decade that people stopped saying "two thousand and ..." I suspect we're in the current status quo for at least another decade.

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LordIommi68@reddit

probably when the people born in the 20th century are mostly gone

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213737isPrime@reddit

when the people who were >10 in 2000 are <25% of the pop, so... 2050?

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One_Laugh3051@reddit

This is the decade. We’ve been patient. We have planned. Start saying “the twenties” now, everyone will sort of recalibrate the first time they hear it and move on.

Alternately say “whimpering 20s” to distinguish from the “roaring twenties.” It won’t recalibrate anybody though.

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jarjarbinx@reddit

Bing Crosby recorded Oh My Darling Clementine in 1941 and still used 49er to refer to 1849, so I guess 92 years would be long enough.

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largos7289@reddit

LOL well at it over laps or we are still around it will still be a thing. I mean if you said to me oh remember the 24's I would assume you meant 2024 not 1924 but still.

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LarryGriff13@reddit

COBOL programmer here. The answer is: NEVER. Always use 4 digits for the year

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Garuda34@reddit

These people are looking for you 😉.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqImVgmTVpc

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