Throughout my life, I’ve always heard people refer to the early 21st century years as “two thousand and X”. For example, they pronounced 2001 as “two thousand and one”. In my experience, during the mid-2010s there seemed to be a shift in the way people said it, and the first time I heard someone say it differently was in 2016, where they pronounced it as “twenty sixteen”.
Most people I’ve heard pronounced the late-2010s years as “two thousand and X”, although the pronunciation “twenty X” had started to catch on fast. By the year 2020, almost nobody used the “two thousand and X” pronunciation, except for very old people I knew. For example, most people would pronounce 2024 as “twenty twenty-four” and not “two thousand and twenty-four”.
My question is: what year is the cutoff date for pronouncing the early 21st century years as “two thousand and X?” I’ve always heard people say it that way prior to 2016, I’ve never heard someone pronounce, say, 2007 as “twenty oh seven”.
I hope I was able to properly articulate what I’m trying to say.
2010 but skipping 2011 because twenty eleven sounds weird out loud imo
2010, simply because of how english works.
If you say 2001 as twenty one, it’s confusing. Same goes all the way up to “twenty nine”.
And it’s more garbled and slower to say “twenty oh one” vs “two thousand one”, especially if you’re speaking quickly.
“Twenty ten” and up, however, starts making sense as a different piece of information and can be used easily.
2010
2010-2012 I’d say
I agree,
2009 and before have to be “two thousand and” style
2013 and after have to be “twenty-” style
The years between can be either, but I’d lean toward using “twenty-” style for those too.
How do you say 1901 then? One thousand nine hundred and one? Nineteen hundred and one? Or nineteen oh one? Have you ever heard of the Eighteen Hundred and Twelve Overture?
I’m in the “twenty oh one” etc camp, it’s concise and consistent.
Most people I know start at 2010.
My brain hurts. I’ve just spent like 3 minutes stating how the “and” isn’t something I ever heard before. Then I said how it goes all the way to 2019. Then I remembered I don’t remember anyone calling it Two Thousand Nineteen. It’s Twenty Nineteen. But 2011 is Two Thousand Elevin, but I HAVE heard Twenty Elevin. And same with 2010.
So now it becomes a matter of geolocation region preferences. Different people switched over at different times. And I am NOT about to go spend my time researching thousands of different data points of who says what and when.
screams into a pillow
If you want to be a bit pedantic the and is incorrect for a year. When you say a number the and should be to denote a decimal portion of a number. It’s generally not always used that way so context is often required to determine the intent.
People may have also switched some years retroactively. I definitely said two thousand ten back then, but would say twenty ten now.
…no no no no…you’re making it even MORE complicated!!!
screams wildly into pillows
