Say goodbye to the decade with no name
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Tue Dec 22 14:23:14 UTC 2009
On January 16, I wrote:
>I call the first 8 years (counting as Mark does) the "uh-oh"
>decade. (Yes I can't count. Just think of it as a decade decimated
>a little more than twice.)
I don't think anyone took me up -- or put me down -- on this suggestion.
Now at the end of the ninth year of the decade, I have authoritative
support, from the New York Times on December 21. In an article on a
decade of sports "marred by scandal and suspicion", Christopher Clarey wrote:
"The decade has been called 'the aughts,' but the trendier 'uh-ohs'
sounds more appropriate."
One could expand this characterization beyond sports. "Uh-oh,
there's a plane heading for the World Trade Center tower." "Uh-oh,
Bernie Madoff just went into the Federal Courthouse building." Etc. Etc.
And there are 6610 Google hits for "uh-oh decade", but only 431 for
"aughts decade" (plus 132 for "oughts decade") and only 1230 for
"zeros decade".
Joel
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