Why dont we say "twenty o eight" instead of "two thousand eight"?

“Twenty o eight” is an idiom, where “two thousand eight” has the same meaning to all humanoids on the planet Earth at least the ones that use our time system…

its shorter

Well we said nineteen o eight because who really wants to say one thousand eight? With 2008 it just sounds more natural, and I’m sure as the years go by, 900 years from now it will be twenty nine o eight.

jstringham21: actually, twenty o eight is a syllable shorter

deepseas72: Aren’t they equal? Twen-ty-o-eight. Two-thous-and-eight. I don’t know..
And, by the way, my grandma says “two-oh-oh-eight.” It always drives me nuts and I have to struggle to keep my mouth shut.

Good lord! Major error on my part. Thanks, allie;)

Why not Twenty-Ten minus Two?

I’ve been saying twenty o since twenty o four.

I wish we did say Twenty Oh Eight. I figure when we hit Twenty Ten it may change or for sure by Twenty Twenty, which is a phrase we are used to.

Way to break new ground, Pete! I think I’m going to start it too. We’ll be used to it when the change finally comes!

Let flutherites begin the revolution! twenty o nine or bust!

Two thousand eight? Everyone out here in the Nevada desert says “Y2K8”! I guess it developed as a regional expression, sort of like “Y’all” in Tennessee or “Youze” in New England.

I don’t know Dave… Dave?

I think the reason is because of the year 2000. For a while before 2000, the year was always known as the year “two thousand”, probably as it sounded more dramatic and different than a 19xx year (the year 20 was often used to mean “in the future…”). And besides, it is longer to say “twen-ty hun-dred”.

When 2001 came along, it only seemed natural to say “two thousand and one” (or “two thousand one” in America) seeing as we all called the year 2000 “two thousand”, so the next year is 2000, +1.

I think though by 2010, most people will switch back to how it used to be – it will be “twenty ten”, not “two thousand and ten”.

And now for an even bigger question… if the 1950s were the ‘50s, the 1960s the ‘60s, the 1970s the ‘70s, and so on, what will the 2000s be?

@jonno – I’m sure they asked the same question in the 1900’s. In their case, they called it the oughts

this conversation came up in 2000 as well…people on the news said that the correct term for 2001 is “twenty ought one”. I’ll be glad when we get to the 10’s. then there will be less confusion.

At least we’re sure people won’t be saying twenty-o-ten.

i hated when people said twenty o eight when i used to work at kfc and took delivery orders on the phone, because some people meant it as 208, which doesnt really make sense, so i would always have to ask them if they ment two zero zero eight or just two zero eight, and sometimes people would be dumb enough to just repeat “its twenty o eight” and i would have to ask again, and they usually got mad cuz i had to ask so many times, but its their own fault for repeating the same answer that you first gave, but if i understood it the first time, i wouldnt be asking! dont respond with the same answer if i didnt get it the first time, repeating the exact same thing isnt gonna help.

im so glad i quit, god did i hate it there, some customers were alright, but most sucked, and the people that worked there sucked.

its shorter and easier to say i guess

@mdy, I do occasionally hear people say “twenty-o-ten.” Makes me cringe. Also “fiscal year o-nine-o-ten.” That’s just silly.

But we’re still figuring out this “two thousand” business. We had seven centuries of “teen”-something, and we’ve been doing the twenties for only a decade. We’ll settle down pretty soon.

Be consistent. How would you call those year numbers if they were street numbers? I don’t know. I’m not a native speaker ;-) ...