Weather warning, and year terminology

[vilakins]

I just heard there's an extreme weather warning out for southern England (and Wales too, presumably) with the worst snow in 50 years. I hope all of you and your animals will be safe over there.

On a completely unrelated topic, what are people calling this year? I'm saying twenty-ten, not the bulky two-thousand-and-ten (or two-thousand-ten). Say these out loud:
1710
1811
1912.

So this year follows the pattern. The last decade was an anomaly because of 2000 being two thousand and not twenty-hundred, but I hope people go back to the simpler and shorter standard naming from now on.

[Edit] Besides, the old time-tested system breaks years nicely into centuries.
I've been told that 1000-1009 are also different, but it's ten-ten, ten-eleven etc from 1010 onwards. Yep.

Comments

[zoefruitcake]

I'm saying twenty ten

[vilakins]

Yep! It's only logical!

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

Yes stupid snow. It better be over before I have to train it down to London/go to uni by friggin bus.

Uh. I never even thought about the year. I don't ever say the year aloud, I've noticed just "last year" or "3 years ago" or whatever.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

I'm saying two thousand and ten, only because it drives me up the *wall* when people split numbers into new sets of numbers (I have trouble enough keeping up with any numbers, rather than having to imagine a "twenty" and a "ten" and put them together--that takes three separate things to compute rather than just "two thousand and ten" because that's one number in my head). I go absolutely spare when people say "hundred" or "thousand" when they read out phone numbers or postcodes and such (when they are, er, longer than three digits or four digits), because that requires more mental computing to figure out what the hell they mean by "six thousand, five hundred, twenty twenty".

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Only southern England? We've got at least six inches here and it's still falling... and that's a lot for England in general.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

So far I'm saying two thousand ten (no and) but I suspect by next year I'll be willing to upgrade to twenty eleven, 'cuz 11 has 3 syllababbles all on its own.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

We had that warning broadcast early this afternoon just as the snow storm in my picture started(around 12:30pm) but that was only a shower and melted quickly. Beth managed to get her car down the hill and we went looking for necessary supplies like dog food for Losyn and a pot of Bertoli (olive oil spread for bread.)for me only to find that people had descended on ASDA and Sainsbury's like a swarm of locust. Leaving very little for human sustenance but the dog won't starve. Ah well we will survive, I have a half pound of butter left over from Christmas Cake making if I run out of healthy stuff.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I'm going with twenty-ten. They've been referring to the London Olympics as twenty-twelve all along.

And on the weather front, I've just had a phone call. School's closed tomorrow, I don't have to go out. :~)

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

Not much snow here as yet ... but they are saying it might turn up later in the night.

There was a hamster weather warning (only nose visible) when I cgot home this evening - even Mr useless furry bedmaker had made a sort of impressive attempt at a nest- so I was understanding something was going to happen.

I'll take photos if there is anything interesting weather wise on the way into work tomorrow.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I'm going with twenty ten also. Good luck with the snowstorms, here it's just plain cold.

[babel.livejournal.com]

Twenty-ten, definitely. Two thousand (and) ten sounds a bit overly proper to me. I almost expect a "year of our lord" before it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I loved snow when I lived in England and Germany. It's so exotic and so much fun. We have plenty here on the mountains, but on houses? Coolness!

I do too, but I do say the year too if I remember it, like watching and falling for B7 in 2001. Should be twenty-oh-one but it isn't. I'm going to say it the standard way from now on.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ha! I now recognise that icon! And I now know what that discussion about Eddis not being Eddia was about. And go her!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what the warning said. Maybe they'll change it. Eep.

[vandonovan.livejournal.com]

Twenty-ten for me, for the exact same reason: I say Nineteen-ten, too, or whatever. And it's easier to say!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'd have to think about that last one too. I've heard people break phone numbers into double digits, like fifty-two eight ninety-five fifty-nine, but I don't.

It's a system I only ever use for years, but since I say eighteen-twelve etc, I'll keep to it. Besides, it breaks the numbers nicely into centuries. :-)

Is the Finnish numbering system logical? There are some odd ones around like the French one which goes nuts when they hit 70, where they go sixty-ten, sisty-eleven etc. Oy.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The "and" is only in British English; ignore it. :-) And I like how the eighteen-twelve, twenty-ten system divides things nicely into centuries.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Good for them! It makes sense to go by centuries, not millennia.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Apparently it's all meant to come down overnight.

Animals often know!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm in midsummer here, but I thought I'd warn people in case they hadn't heard. :-) Does NYC get much snow? I know cities don't, as much.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[laughs] Yet the previous eight years were referred to that way. Weirdness. After all, it's ten-sixty-six and all that.

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

Yes - tis actually snowing quite hard outside. Its dry powdery snow so I heard it shushing before I went to look out of the window.

[vandonovan.livejournal.com]

If someone ever read me a phone number or post code with "six thousand, five hundred, twenty twenty" I'd punch them in the face. I've always heard/given numbers like that one number at a time. From what you've said prior, would you prefer that to be given as "six hundred, fifty two thousand, twenty"? (I'm not even sure I've gotten the numbers right, I assume you're going for 652020.) I guess I get 567-1500 being "five, six, seven, fifteen-hundred" as a bit confusing. But do you say "one thousand, nineteen hundred, sixty-seven" or "nineteen-sixty-seven" for 1967? I mean, I think everyone says "I love the nineteen-sixties!" or knows what that means. I view "twenty-ten" the same way.

Ah well, I figure everyone will kno what two-thousand-ten means anyway. It'll only get really cumbersome once the two-thousand rolles over to twenty-one-thousand forty-two.)

Anyway.

[babel.livejournal.com]

True, but I think twenty-oh-nine or twenty-oh-three or whatever is a bit more awkward. I don't tend to say ten-oh-seven in my history classes either. XD

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Finnish is pretty logical, thank gods. We don't generally say "fifteen hundred" or other rubbish like that, but "thousand five hundred" instead. So it's even more annoying when people use taht kind of phrasing here. My postcode isn't fifteen thousand two four zero, it's just one-five-two-four-zero. (And I had to concentrate very hard to write even that down...)