When Do We Start Calling Years ‘Twenty-Somethings'? Dan Gillmor, guest-blogging at Boing Boing, reopens the endless conversation about what to call the decade we're currently in and how to refer to the years themselves. This is a conversation that has been had since well into the 1990s. What's funny is, as I've mentioned on the air, what I hear people saying is “twenty-nine,†meaning 2009, but they never write it that way nor seem to notice that's what they're saying.
I am for making things as simple as possible. Which ever is simpler, should be the way to go. Saying “two thousand nine†is the same complexity as “twenty oh nineâ€. “Twenty nine†is not correct because that is too easily confused with the year “29″. I prefer “two thousand nine†because, while possessing the same number of syllables, it seems more grammatically correct than “twenty oh nineâ€.
"Twenty-nine" to mean "2009" seems not to cause any confusion. For one thing, there are few reasons to think that anyone means "2029" or "1929," especially since "twenty-nine" used in this way is always wrapped in the context of a larger conversation in which the time frame is readily apparent. Listen for it. You'll see that it only seems like it might be confusing when you try to talk about the usage. If you don't talk about it, it does its job unconfusingly.
I will start listening for that. I'm not aware of having heard it. "Twenty-oh-nine," yes. (And so far, I've not confused that with 8:40 a.m. or p.m.)
Or, in military or European usage, 8:09 PM (20:09)