1909

[Wilson Gray]

I've heard "two-oh-six" quite often in the wild, but, so far, only
2,000-10, though I personally use 20-10. The 1900's I know only from
Westerns. Did anybody ever really use "19-aught-six" or "19-&-six"?

-Wilson

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 2:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: 1909
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I could be wrong, but in this case I very strongly doubt it. Despite
> autosuggestive attempts to imagine them saying, "Nineteen six," "nineteen
> nine," etc., it just sounds wrong.
>
> Of course, I have heard that formula from others, though I'm mostly familiar
> with it through films and fiction.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 1:57 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
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>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: 1909
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 1:30 PM -0500 1/15/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> >My NYC grandparents never used the forms "nineteen and..." or
>> >"nineteen-ought...."  The only form I recall hearing from them (or from
>> >anyone else outside of the movies) was "nineteen-oh...."
>> >
>> >JL
>>
>> But always "Nineteen oh six" and not "Nineteen six" for dates in the
>> first decade of the century?  (Granted, you might not remember those
>> earlier dates clearly, Jon.)
>>
>> LH
>>  >
>> >
>> >On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 12:58 PM, Benjamin Zimmer <
>> >bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>> >
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>> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >>  Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> >>  Subject:      Re: 1909
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>
>> >>  On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
>> >>  wrote:
>> >>  >
>> >>  > in my Choosing a Variant course this quarter, we've spent some time
>> on
>> >>  > the currently hot topic, year names (and number names).  one of the
>> >>  > students has asked me how people in 1906 referred to that year.  it's
>> >>  > likely that there were several possibilities, of course.
>> >>  >
>> >>  > anyone have any information on the question?
>> >>
>> >>  At the beginning of the last decade I poked around a bit for evidence,
>> >>  from class cheers and the like. From what I could tell anecdotally,
>> >>  the most common formulation was "nineteen six." This is sometimes
>> >>  claimed as a Briticism, but there are plenty of examples in the U.S.
>> >>  as well.
>> >>
>> >>  See this alt.usage.english post for cites:
>> >>  http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/msg/e8a4080f14289670
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>  --Ben Zimmer
>> >>
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>> >
>> >
>> >
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>> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
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>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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