The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Dating

Each year, about this time, I start writing the correct year as part of the date. That's right, it takes me almost a month to burn the year into my brain. That's an average. Some years it took longer.

This year has been different. I have yet to make a mistake and use "09" or "2009" when writing a date. This may be because I have had so few occasions where I have had to write out a date. Being retired and dumping all the bills and correspondence onto Faye means I rarely pick up a pen except to jot down a note to myself. And notes to myself (I like to call them intra-personal memos) rarely have any dates on them.

While I am talking about the year, I hear this one being referenced in an unusual way. The guy said it was "two K ten". I usually, if I verbalize it at all, say it as "twenty ten". I have also heard people say "two ten" which, to me, makes no sense at all. 2009 was no problem, everyone seemed to reference it as "oh nine". In fact, the only one I never heard a short form for was 2000. That one was always "two thousand" unless they were talking about the non-existent disaster called the "two K bug".

Following that train of thought, we have a couple of ways of referencing a decade. One uses the tens digit; 50's, 60's, 70's, etc. The other uses something that is associated with the period; the Roaring Twenties or Gay Nineties or the Reagan Years (only 8 years but who's counting?). No one has come up with a good, catchy, name for the 2000 to 2009 decade. Maybe we'd just like to forget it. I think someone suggested the Noughties. But I don't think that will catch on, the sound-alike connotation doesn't really work.

So, have you caught up to the year in dating checks yet?

4 comments:

Steven said...

what are these "checks" you speak of?!

I actually call this two thousand ten, for whatever reason.

Douglas said...

Ah yes, I keep forgetting the younger generation doesn't know about these things. We used to use these "checks", as they were known, to pay for things. Mostly before the proliferation of credit cards. After the credit card became ubiquitous, they were only used to pay bills which once arrived in something called "mail" (not to be confused with email). It was all splendidly archaic, of course, but somehow fun. I predict a nostalgic return to those days in the near future... or maybe to gold as a medium of exchange.

Michael said...

It's twenty-ten to me, and I have yet to screw that up too. I think building up to a new decade, '07, '08 and '09 just kind of whizzed by and just seemed irrelevant. I mean, 2000 was a big deal, then 2001 was good, and let's all freak out about 20:02 20/02/2002, and then I'm kind of bored.

I dunno, is there something wrong with me?

Michael.
Do you hate it too?
"If you're going through Hell, keep going."

Steven said...

what are these "checks" you speak of?!

I actually call this two thousand ten, for whatever reason.