Ken Jennings posted about the phrase 'turn of the century', wondering if it only refers to 1900 or if it now refers to 2000 as well. The FP Gal brought it to my attention and asked my opinion. My take is that it refers to 1900. For 2000, we should simply use 'the millennium'. She disagrees.
The conversation turned to how we'll refer to various upcoming decades. Will we think of 2020-2029 as 'the 20s' or do we need a new phrasing? I told her that I thought that the convention of separating out each decade and then naming it was a fairly new thing. The earliest example of it that I can think of was the Mauve Decade (1890's). Wikipedia seems to agree. Andrew, can you confirm or disprove this?
I just don't know what we'll do going forward. There have been half-hearted attempts to figure out if this decade is the 'Oughts' or the 00's or something like that. There hasn't been any kind of real consensus though.
To tell the truth, I hope we go with something else. The 20's, 30's, 40's and so on each have such a distinct character. It would be a shame to overwrite all of that.
2 comments:
I think we should call them the '2020's or '2030s' or something like that. No clue what to call the 00's and teens though. And I think EVERY century turns....not just 1900. You just have to say "the turn of the 20th century" or "the last century" or whatever. It'll all wash out in the history books, I'm sure.
Given the way the history books haven't been written lately (not a typo, I assure you), this issue is actually under discussion. As a traditionalist who believes newfangled writing styles should be beaten thoroughly with rods of iron and everything Good And Decent in society ended in, say, 1987 or so, I'd opine that the consensus among historians as far as the last cenury's decades will remain.
Given all the foofaraw about the "Millenium" in 2000, which was a wash regardless because anyone worth their salt knows that it REALLY "turned" on Jan. 1, 2001, I have a nasty suspicion that we will sadly continue to see this time period referred to as the "Millenium", or, perhaps more conveniently, the 21st Century. The dacades, however, will probably continue to be spelled out numerically with the full 20(whatever) attached, at least until the Boomers die off.
Then maybe we can all just move on...
Post a Comment