How Will You Say the Year 2010?

The year 2010 is fast approaching and it is creating a sort of apprehension for some folks. The question is: How do you speak 2010? For the past nine years, most people have been speaking the years as "two thousand", two thousand one", up to "two thousand nine".

I had been mildly irritated with Charles Osgood of CBS's "Sunday Morning" program when he would say "and now for the headlines this day, August ninth, twenty oh nine." He has been doing it since the millennium and it kind of grated on me. After all, the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was not "Twenty oh one: A Space Odyssey"; it was Two-thousand one..."

But 2010 and beyond presents another issue. I suppose we could (and some will) say "Two thousand ten" but in keeping with past practices, I've come to realize, it should be, as Charlie determined 9 years ago, "Twenty ten".

The proof is in how you spoke the years 1776, 1890, 1910, 1941, and the like. We all said "Seventeen seventy six, Eighteen ninety, Nineteen ten, and Nineteen forty-one". We did NOT say (in keeping with the "two thousand one" theme) "one thousand seven hundred and seventy six", did we? (Except on hoity-toity documents like diplomas and wedding invitations thought to add some class). So it was Seventeen, Eighteen, and Nineteen so now the next number should be "Twenty"

So Mr. Osgood, you were right all the time, and Twenty Ten it will be. I can check one more thing off my peeves list.