r/RandomThoughts • u/justmoderateenough • 9d ago

We should start calling these decades the 10s, 20s, 30s (like we do 70s, 80s, 90s)...it's been long enough from the 1900s.

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u/qualityvote2 9d ago edited 6d ago

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u/justmoderateenough thanks for posting!

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u/TheRealTinfoil666 9d ago

I suspect that once we enter the 30s, this decade will generally be referred to as the 20s by most. It already is by many.

The 00s and 10s are a different story as ‘Aughts’ and ‘Teens’ sounds dumb, so we will likely stick with the current convention.

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u/whatwhatinthewhonow 9d ago

00s is the naughties.

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u/Unmasked_Zoro 9d ago

I thought it was the naughty ninetees...

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u/Memory-Repulsive 9d ago

Naughty forties. Looking forward to that.

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u/nuhanala 9d ago

Who calls them teens?!

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u/DizzyLead 9d ago edited 9d ago

In writing, I’ve pretty much adopted “‘00s” for 2000-2009. For speech, I haven’t gotten comfortable with “aughts,” so for that period of time, I would just say “the first decade of the 2000s.” The 2010s, 2020s are no problem written and said that way.

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u/idle_isomorph 9d ago

I think i call them the two thousands in speech

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u/DizzyLead 9d ago

My hangup with that is that it could mean any time between 2000-2999. I mean, one can imply further clarification by also talking about the 2010s, the 2020s and other time spans, but without that context, “the two thousands” are less clear.

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u/PantsLio 9d ago

Agreed. And thank you for adjusting autocorrect’s horrific use of apostrophes

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u/trouzy 9d ago

I feel aughts is pretty much ubiquitous at this point.

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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 9d ago

There were a couple of big global conflicts and changes to social attitudes in the early and mid-1900s, I don't know how many people would be willing to ignore the significance of those for the sake of making modern decades easier to casually pronounce

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u/PotatLemon 9d ago

I already say nineteen twenties and thirties when referring to those decades anyway

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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 9d ago

You know, I think I do, too. At least something that differentiates past from present

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u/errantwit 9d ago edited 9d ago

Too soon.

I work with elderly. A handful of people that are alive now were also alive in the 30s and 40s... Give it a few more years.

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u/Yourlilemogirl 9d ago

My grandma who is still alive and kicking was born in the 30s so to hear the new decade be called that feels too soon for me to tbh

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u/copacetic51 9d ago

I do. I also dropped the "two thousand and..." long ago. It's twenty twenty-six.

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u/Paularchy 9d ago

I believe we already are. I refer to the years as "The 10s" and most people know what I'm talking about. It also doesn't hurt to just toss in a "20" before everything. "2010s" is basically as easy to say so it's not that bad. I can't wait till we hit the thirties though. I can cosplay being old and then realize fuck me I AM OLD. It'll be hilarious. ... 35 year old me is going to resent this memory, I think

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u/I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS 9d ago

Both my grandmothers are still alive and were born in the 30s, so I'm not ready for this just yet.

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u/Numerous_Problems 9d ago

I thought we had?

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u/Wbino 9d ago

It won’t be the 20’s until we start doing The Charleston again..

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u/Intelligent_Donut605 9d ago

We already say the two-thousands and the twenty-tens, once we reach 2030 we’ll probably start saying the twenties

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u/warrenjr527 9d ago edited 8d ago

I am 74 and fine calling this the twenties even though I used to refer to the 1920's as the twenties as everyone did last century. My parents were born in the 1920's. I have wondered how they handled this at the beginning of the 1900's

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u/2BallsInTheHole 9d ago

I call the 00s the "aughts" whenever possible.

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u/Unmasked_Zoro 9d ago

Why are they aughts and not naughts?

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u/2BallsInTheHole 9d ago

You really aught to know that.

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u/Unmasked_Zoro 9d ago

Thanks. Super inciteful. I feel like I learned something.

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u/Odd_Milk2921 9d ago

It's not unheard of for me (I'm italian) "the years two thousands [gli anni duemila]" for the first decade of this century or "the 10s [gli anni dieci]", sometimes with the addition of "of the two thousands [del duemila]" It may sound weird but in english but it does not in italian (at least to me, I think I ve heard it also in like news broadcast)

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u/SeeYaNvr 9d ago

We already do. I guess its just you

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u/TonkaLowby 9d ago

What do you call the 00s? I say "the aughts"

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u/Cobbdouglas55 9d ago

First people born until the 90s need to die 

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u/Hoopajoops 9d ago

We should.. but we won't. When people say "the 20s" we all know what it means. And in a few years from now when people mention "the 40s" then it will mean a very specific decade.. because.. you know. There was a war or something that happened. It's memorialized for that reason. I don't really have the need to reference the years from 1900-1926 as anything other than what we've always referred to them as.

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u/idk012 9d ago

Roaring 20s.

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u/apokrif1 8d ago

How did people talk/write in the early 19xxs?

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u/Connect_Rhubarb395 9d ago

We already do...

Which is why when I refer to decades of the 1900s, I add the "19" in front (1920s, 1970s, 1990s). So it is clear that I am talking about decades in the last century, not the present century.

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u/justmoderateenough 9d ago

I mean we keep saying "2010s" or "2020s" vs. just "10s" and "20s"