- to be looking forward to saying we are "in the twenties"?

[ScreamingValenta]

It's been 20 years since we've been able to say easily what decade we are in, but soon we will be "in the twenties".

Does anyone else feel the same, or is this a manifestation of regret for my lost youth and nostalgia for the last time we could do this - back in the glorious nineties?

I hadn't been, but I am now, thanks!

I'm glad it's not just me!

I’m a bit confused as to why you’re confused. The last decade is widely known to be the ‘noughties’ and this decade is widely referred to as the ‘teens.’

Yanbu. The noughties and the teens just sound ridiculous. Roll on the twenties!

I'm hoping, probably in vain, that everyone will catch on to saying "twenty-x" instead of the ponderous "two thousand and-x".

Those terms are recent media inventions, though. They're not the classic decade names that have been used for several centuries.

Reallybadidea Yes, that would be good. I think people will start saying twenty twenty because it's snappier - we've just got out of the habit since the 1990s.

Yes I can't wait. I've been saying 'twenty-x' since 2012 Olympics though. I don't know anyone who says 'two thousand and nineteen'

Preferred it when I was in my twenties!!

I agree with you OP. I’ve also hated it how people have been saying, for example, two thousand and nineteen or two thousand and five. Instead of Twenty Nineteen etc.

Won’t it be lovely to have everybody just saying Twenty Twenty?

Sorry I see Really made same pint

Yes, I agree. I was thinking the other day how awkward to say "noughties" and "teens" have been. Also sort of nebulous. Twenties feels more like solid ground.

I’ve been calling this decade the 2010’s not the teens. Looking back at history we called 1900-1909 the 19 hundreds but 2000-2009 was the noughties. I’m pretty sure 1910-1919 was also called the 10’s but I could be mistaken.

I think we should all start calling decades- 20’s, 30’s, 40’s Etc again and drop the 20 part in front.
If we are talking about previous decades then add the 19 part. So we will be in the 20’s soon and call it that. If we are talking about the 1920’s then we should say the 1920’s now and not just the 20’s as that was in the previous century. I’m sure this is the way it has worked throughout history anyway.

YANBU.

I wonder what the prevailing fashion will be?

The last twenty years have been a mish-mash of bleurgh.

Twenties feels more like solid ground

Yes, that's exactly it - almost as if we have been flailing in a sort of time-blur since 1999 and now we can reattach ourselves.

It's a point worth making twice and I'm glad other people agree!

I’m sure this is the way it has worked throughout history anyway.

Yes, I think so. If you read a novel set in the early half of the last century, you'll see references to 'the 80s' and 'the 90s' meaning 1880s and 1890s, but in my lifetime you'd have specified '18-' if you weren't speaking of the 20th Century.

I wonder what the prevailing fashion will be?

It would be good to see something distinctive and different - in the way you can very clearly identify fashions of, say, the 80s.

I’ve literally next heard it called ‘the teens’

It’s been the 2010s at a push but that doesn’t really make sense. I’m sure 1900-1919 is just referred to as the 19hundreds. The noughties started off as a bad joke and has persisted for want of a clearer linguistic expression.

I agree OP I’m also looking forward to the solid ground.

I think in the long-term future, the period from 2000 - 2019 will be referred to as the 'two thousands' as we refer to the 'nineteen hundreds' now.

'Noughties' won't persist because it has no other application, unlike 20s, 30s etc. You don't refer to your early childhood as when you were 'in your noughties' .

Sort of but I think I'll find it annoying when people say 'twenny' not 'twenty'.

I expect I'll get through this terrible affliction somehow though :)

Twenny Twenny is going to be torture for you @horse4course

Yanbu. I've been looking forward to it too.