Pronouncing the years, post-2000

[announcements]

As we approach 2012, again we are faced by the pronunciation dilemma: two-thousand-and-twelve or twenty-twelve? Given the branding of the Olympics favouring the latter, it should be interesting to see if there will be a switch in attitudes. I believe attitudes towards pronouncing the years can, broadly, be split into 5 categories. Please note that you should treat 'two-thousand-X' the same as two-thousand-and-x when considering which option applies to you.


OPTION 1
2001 = Two-thousand-and-one
2011 = Two-thousand-and-eleven
2020 = Two-thousand-and-twenty
etc.
Consistently Two-thousand-and-X

OPTION 2
2001 = Twenty-oh-one
2011 = Twenty-eleven
2020 = Twenty-twenty
etc.
Consistently Twenty-X. Very rare does one hear Twenty-oh-one to Twenty-oh-nine, though University Challenge presenter Jeremy Paxman favours this option. Perhaps in the future people will be more inclined to go by this option in the same way we say 'nineteen-oh-one' when referring to 1901 etc?

OPTION 3
2001 = Two-thousand-and-one
2011 = Twenty-eleven
2020 = Twenty-twenty
etc.
So this option goes by the idea that one switches from two-thousand-and-X to twenty-X when they get to 2010

OPTION 4
2001 = Two-thousand-and-one
2011 = Two-thousand-and-eleven
2020 = Twenty-twenty
In other words, you only say twenty-x when referring to future years. The year that we're currently in and all years that have previously passed receive the two-thousand-and treatment

OPTION 5
Select this option if you switch at random e.g. sometimes 'Two-thousand-and-X, other times 'Twenty-X'

 

[90019]

Generally I use option one, though I do occasionally use option three.

I hate option two though, it really grates whenever I hear 2001-2009 being pronounced like that.

 

[Zoe]

There's also the option to leave out the and by just saying two thousand XX. I would say two thousand XX up until 2010 and then twenty XX from 2011.

 

[SS4]

Option 1. Always

Two Thousand and Twelve.

 

[Lampshade]

Option 4.

 

[Eagle]

Generally I use option one...

Seriously? You're going to be saying things like "two thousand and thirty-six"? Am I going to have to put up with this for the rest of my life (assuming we stay together through twenty twelve and twenty thirteen, which we will)?

I go for option 3, which also seems to be the most common nowadays.

Also I've noticed people have started saying "the year two thousand" again, like they did in the 1980s and 1990s, being as it's now long past.

 

[90019]

Seriously? You're going to be saying things like "two thousand and thirty-six"?

Not bothered about those ones, and as I said, I switch between the two.

However, pronounce 2001-2009 like 'twenty oh five' that and you'll get a slap.

 

[Eagle]

However, pronounce 2001-2009 like 'twenty oh five' that and you'll get a slap.

Please slap Paxman. Please.

 

[SS4]

Seriously? You're going to be saying things like "two thousand and thirty-six"? Am I going to have to put up with this for the rest of my life (assuming we stay together through twenty twelve and twenty thirteen, which we will)?

I go for option 3, which also seems to be the most common nowadays.

Also I've noticed people have started saying "the year two thousand" again, like they did in the 1980s and 1990s, being as it's now long past.

But everyone knows the world will end in 2012 (two thousand and twelve )

 

[Eagle]

But everyone knows the world will end in 2012 (two thousand and twelve )

So it won't end in twenty twelve then? Awesome, I survive based on numerical pedantry!

 

[SS4]

So it won't end in twenty twelve then? Awesome, I survive based on numerical pedantry!

twenty twelve is 12 minutes past 8pm so you could

 

[Eagle]

twenty twelve is 12 minutes past 8pm so you could

Platform four for the twenty twelve service to oblivion (via Crewe).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Option two for me. Always.

 

[SS4]

Platform four for the twenty twelve service to oblivion (via Crewe).

How appropriate that it's via Crewe even if Henry did get sent there by the Fat Controller after derailing whilst pulling the flying kipper (that episode scared me ****less as a kid )

 

[Badger]

I use it kind of like the misuse of the word "an".

I.e. only when it sounds right. "An elephant", "an honourable gentleman", "an hour", "a bird"

Hard to explain. But basically boils down to my mind just thinking some things sound wrong and some sound right.

2001-9 = Two thousand and one
2010 = Twenty Ten
2011 = Two thousand and eleven
2012-Onwards = Twenty twenty

I don't know why twenty-x doesn't work for eleven (in my mind).

 

[RPM]

I can't vote. There's no "who cares?" option.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I must be "option 3" as I always refer to my year of birth as:-

Nineteen forty-five.

In football parlance, I seem to remember it being referred to as "the nineteen sixty-six" World Cup Final in which England became the winners of this tournament.

 

[Seacook]

I have never used anything except option two (and I use twenty hundred for 2000). This is consistent with all other dates:

Battle of Hastings - ten sixty six
Charlemagne crowned as Holy Roman Emperor - eight hundred
Battle of Trafalgar - eighteen oh five
First World Series - nineteen oh three
October Revolution - November, nineteen seventeen

 

[announcements]

The BBC seem to have mixed-use.

Newsreaders invariably favour option 3 whereas presenters seem to use Option 1 e.g. "Children In Need two-thousand-and-eleven" or "The winner of the Great British Bake Off two-thousand-and-eleven". The question is, when will they start to use 'twenty-X'? Perhaps they are following the option 4 logic and only associate 'twenty-X' with future years.

Apparently, it isn't just Jeremy Paxman who has used Option 2. Radio 4 newsreader Charlotte Green apparently used to adhere to this throughout the early-mid '00s but received numerous complaints that it didn't sound right calling, for example, 2001 'twenty-oh-one'. In the end, she switched to 'two-thousand-and-x'!

I don't know why twenty-x doesn't work for eleven (in my mind).

It's funny because 'two-thousand-and-eleven' is quite a mouthful!

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I use it kind of like the misuse of the word "an".

I.e. only when it sounds right. "An elephant", "an honourable gentleman", "an hour", "a bird"

Hard to explain. But basically boils down to my mind just thinking some things sound wrong and some sound right.

What you are trying to explain here is called "sandhi" by linguists. Its rare in written English other than the use of "an" in place of "a", though more common in spoken dialects to merge two words together and to insert an 'n' or other sound between two vowels which meet at word boundaries.

Its an integral feature of Sanskrit where it is so institutionalised that different characters are used to represent the change to vowels that occurs at some word boundaries.

 

[Mojo]

Battle of Hastings - ten sixty six
Charlemagne crowned as Holy Roman Emperor - eight hundred
Battle of Trafalgar - eighteen oh five
First World Series - nineteen oh three
October Revolution - November, nineteen seventeen

However at the time, years were described as (for example) nineteen hundred and one.

 

[SS4]

I have never used anything except option two (and I use twenty hundred for 2000). This is consistent with all other dates:

Battle of Hastings - ten sixty six
Charlemagne crowned as Holy Roman Emperor - eight hundred
Battle of Trafalgar - eighteen oh five
First World Series - nineteen oh three
October Revolution - November, nineteen seventeen

9/11 - Two thousand and one.

Your examples only work for historical events a (relatively) long way in the past. Nineteen hundred doesn't roll off the tongue like two thousand does

 

[Eagle]

9/11 - Two thousand and one...

Eleven oh-nine oh-one.

(Actually I use oh-one oh-nine eleven, but that confuses people apparently so I reverse it when talking to humans.)

 

[Ivo]

No consistency at all in my approach

There are a few years which I always say the same way, such as 2001-2009, but even then I tend to use the American form of skipping the word "and". Otherwise though, I tend to prefer "two thousand eleven", but not "two thousand twelve". It is on a year-by-year basis, but even then it changes.

 

[Seacook]

However at the time, years were described as (for example) nineteen hundred and one.

I believe [century] aught one was quite common at one time. Did people say one thousand nine hundred and one? This would be consistent with two thousand and one.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I think option 3 works for me.

With the exception of 2000-2010 i tend to say the first two digits as one and then the last two as one, for example:

1884 - eighteen eighty four
1999 - nineteen ninety nine
2011 - twenty eleven

But for 2000-2009 it doesn't seem right...

2000 - twenty nought? or worse still twenty-oh-nought! :eek:

...So I really do think...

2000 - two thousand
2001 - two thousand and one

... is better.

I say 2010 either way depending on the use and conversation, but generally it's twenty ten. That said, I'm yet to meet anyone who has read the books twenty-oh-one, twenty ten, twenty sixty three and thirty-oh-one!

 

[Eagle]

2011 - twenty ten

hock:

You're living in the past, man!

 

[90019]

1884 - eighteen eighty four
1999 - nineteen ninety nine
2011 - twenty ten

Well, you're the first person I know to pronounce 2011 like that.

 

[Eagle]

Well, you're the first person I know to pronounce 2011 like that.

I pronounce it "twey lavn". You may have noticed my speech is very clipped

 

[Lampshade]

Also I've noticed people have started saying "the year two thousand" again, like they did in the 1980s and 1990s, being as it's now long past.

Most people already did; a lot of TV programmes produced in 2000 refer to 'the year two thousand'.