I just realized that with the arrival of 2013, a great void will be filled. There will be an end to the lack of a name for the decade. With '13, will be in The Teens!
Don't tell me we had a name for the first decade of the new millennium. We talked a lot about what it would be called, and then it came and instead of calling it something, we just worked around the lack of a name. Don't tell me we called it the "ohs" or the "aughts." We did not. And we entered the second decade of the new millennium with the same problem. 2010, 2011, 2012... Don't tell me we called that the "tens." Obviously, we didn't.
Relief from the torment of namelessness arrives on Tuesday. Don't worry about 13 being unlucky. That's superstition. I am talking about real life. We need a name for a decade. I have fond memories tied with the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s. There's pizzazz and warmth and eclat and resonance in those terms. We've been empty and hungry for 13 years. The gnawing craving for meaning is over.
It's the Teens!
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66 comments:
Oh dear...
Too bad the teens are probably going to be awful, and not likely to be remembered with fondness.
The 1930s! Man, I miss those days!
I thought the first decade or so was the Aughties.
And, with Little Zero at the helm, they should be the Teenies, for lousy miserable they're going to feel.
I did call it the aughts, myself.
Perhaps we can look forward to the Roaring 20s again.
"I did call it the aughts, myself."
In any normal conversations, where you weren't actually joking about the funny term or using it humorously?
I never heard anyone call the last decade by any name in a casual, normal way, only ever in an arch/jokey way.
I believe that a hundred years ago, folks didn't have names for the decades 1901-1910 and 1911-1920 either.
Prior to that, the 1890s were referred to as "the gay Nineties" (back when "gay" meant gaiety) or "the Mauve Decade."
I used the clunky term two-thousands, as in early-two-thousands 00-03, mid-two-thousands 04-06, and late-two-thousands 07+.
Will we look back and refer to the past couple years as the tweens? Will 2013 be the only 'early-teens' year?
Is this nightmare of vocabulary an English-only phenomenon? I wonder how they handle this in other languages.
They probably were thinking "The Fabulous Teens" in the 20th Century too.
Alas, that decade was defined by WWI and the Lost Generation (which had to wait for the 20s to figure out the last decade had been lost).
Maybe we approach another World War, which will obviate the name "The Teens" for future generations.
Signs of conflict loom. Instability is slowly rising in the world. It is not just the Muslims - every black-ruled city or nation appears to be in decay and decline, with no money, overpopulation straining resources, rising violence. Even in civilized nations, we see the loss of social safety nets on financial insovency, failure of democracy, antiquated constitutions, and the subversion of swift and sure justice to endless lawyer's circuses.
Rather than war betwen nations, it could be a series of internal wars spreading nation by nation - war between the contributors in a panoply of nations and their intractable underclasses. With Elites targeted by both sides. And civil wars are the most vicious.
They probably were thinking "The Fabulous Teens" in the 20th Century too.
Alas, that decade was defined by WWI and the Lost Generation (which had to wait for the 20s to figure out the last decade had been lost).
Maybe we approach another World War, which will obviate the name "The Teens" for future generations.
Signs of conflict loom. Instability is slowly rising in the world. It is not just the Muslims - every black-ruled city or nation appears to be in decay and decline, with no money, overpopulation straining resources, rising violence. Even in civilized nations, we see the loss of social safety nets on financial insovency, failure of democracy, antiquated constitutions, and the subversion of swift and sure justice to endless lawyer's circuses.
Rather than war betwen nations, it could be a series of internal wars spreading nation by nation - war between the contributors in a panoply of nations and their intractable underclasses. With Elites targeted by both sides. And civil wars are the most vicious.
I can't recall who, but someone suggested a few years back that the '00s be called the naughties. That one stuck with me.
I always liked the "noughties."
The Teens are going to look awfully old-fashioned when the Nineties come around again. Enjoy it while you can.
The first decade of the 20th century was called the "naughty aughts". I don't share your affection for periodizing by decades. Historical phenomena and processes are rarely confined within a ten year time frame. Naming decades, however, has proven to be an effective marketing device.
the Mauve Decade
I just named my new-wave band!
With '13, will be in The Teens!
Without the pimples!
The 2k's.
How fitting.
Perhaps only occasionally, but I did call it, and heard it called "The Aughts," though perhaps "The Naughts" would have been better.
Retrospectively, we can now call them the Pre-Teens.
Hi, Ann!
Yes, I did, but only because I didn't know what to call them. Usually in reference to music, I think.
No one ever asked me to clarify what I meant, as I recall, but it still felt like an idea still in search of its word.
I just called them the Two-thousands. Now come the Teens. Then its 2020 when all things will be made clear.
The previous decade was the zero era.
I think they are going to call it the "Depression, Part Deux."
Every decade will be compared to the 20th Century. Is there any way our teens could be worse than the 19 teens?
Well, since we're acting like a bunch of adolescents . . . .
Having lost two children during the two-thousands, I am glad to see them go. Good riddance.
No, it's called the 'TARDS'. After all, the country voted for Obama... TWICE.
So this is what it was like to live in the 1910s.
The teens it is, which means: come on 2021, the year when the century is old enough to drink.
Hmmm. Maybe we're having the hangover first...
If the "aughts" ever need a nickname, it will happen. It just hasn't been useful yet.
And, if the "teens" ever needs a nickname, that will happen without folks trying to force a name as Ann is now doing.
There are only one or, tops, two decades in which you are aware of what clothes are stylish, what music is hip and what movie stars are cool. The rest of the time, the years and the word pass by in a formless blur. I think there were a couple of years in the sixties when I was reasonably hip and a few years in the seventies when I was suitably shocked, but for the rest I've barely noticed the world and its ways. The world does its thing and I do mine.....Is there any great difference between the generation that was branded in the eighties and those from the nineties. Do millenials have more tattoos or is that a nineties thing?
"You can't hurry love, you just have to wait" and nicknames tend to work the same way.
I cannot agree more. Tangentially, where are the official lines the for early-, mid-, and late-section of decades? Obviously years ending with 0/1/2 are early, 7/8/9 are late, and 4/5 are mid. But does mid also get 3 AND 6? Or does mid have to share 3 with early and 6 with late. And if it does have to share, where’s the cut-off, at the midpoint of each year? Or do only the first four months of 3 belong to early and only the last 4 month of 6 belong to late so the decade is split into three even pieces? I need someone to answer this for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark
Why question the question mark when other marks are more ponderous in their nature?
Perhaps we can sell decade-naming rights, like they do for stadiums and bowl games, make a little extra cash for Uncle Sam.
Myself, I'd like a bidding war for this decade between Depends and the NetiPot.
2010 was the last year of the first decade of the 21st Century, (which commenced Jan 01, 2001). Therefore, it was part of whatever the fug that decade will come to be called.
"Don't worry about 13 being unlucky. That's superstition. I am talking about real life."
I always thought it was bad luck to be superstitious.
You sound like someone out of a Barbara Tuchman chapter (The Proud Tower comes to mind) a hundred years later almost to the day.
I'm just glad we didn't have to call them the "Gore/Kerry" years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU_ggFovJNo
Is "Blackened" racist enough to warrant?
who gives a fuck?
When I was a little boy, the "90's" meant 1890s. And the Gay 90s meant something totally different than what it means today.
I think historians will call this the BHO decade.
This Sunday BHO will become the best president of all time. He will personally arrest Gregory (for his clip infraction) on live TV. Then, he will have the CIA waterboard Rice (for her relaying what-the-CIA-authorized-her-to-say infraction). And, he will send drones after anyone who says 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas.'
Justice will be done.
P.S.
He will also set the top marginal tax rate to 13% so that all job creators will have the same tax rate as JCEM, aka Job Creator (and future god/Creator of his own planet) Elder Mitt.
Amen.
Or, maybe Meade's dreams won't come true.
I call it the W.O.es and we'll have at least four more years of it.
Richards-like only that which I speak.
Be aware, all of us always.
Forever.
We sort of always called the first decade of a century, "The Turn of the Century," then for the subsequent decades, the teens, the 20's, the 30's and so on.
The only good thing about the coming years is how easy an example it will show to future generations on how left-wing thought is a complete and total disaster, and how all left wingers should be rounded up and shot.
@April Apple:
Perhaps we can look forward to the Roaring 20s again.
---lmao. Obama's economic destruction won't allow anything of the sort, missy.
Enjoy the decline, bitches!
@pbj:
Yep, now breaking the law with criminal penalties is an "infraction" when you're supporting the left-wing agenda.
And you morons think lefties should be reasoned with, or be treated as humans.
Enjoy the decline you caused, bitches!
When did the naming of a decade become contemporaneous with the decade itself rather than a term used retrospectively? I know that the "Sixties" was used during the 60's, but was that the case during the Gay 90's the Roaring 20's or even the 50's?
It may be that the naming of decades or generations has become outdated. After the baby boomers, there hasn't been a name for a generation that really makes sense, perhaps because there has been no particular traits, good or bad, to define recent generations.
Both "Baby Boomers" and the "Greatest Generation" say something about that generation. What does "Generation X" say about the times and the kids growing up then?
"Millennial" seems like a good name for the current generation or for the first part of the 21st Century.
It should be noted that in the 20th Century, the 'Teens were when things started to go to hell in a handbasket. Federal income tax began in 1913 (starting the growth of the federal leviathan), and that whole World War I (War To End All Wars - ha!) thing started in 1914. If past is prologue, then it's all downhill from here.
Name the decades like winter storms, in a push for news audience.
"A widespread Winter Storm Freyr dumps snow across the Northeast, just days after the regions were hit by Winter Storm Euclid."
I think it's not working yet.
Cedarford: "every black-ruled city or nation appears to be in decay and decline"
Take a look at Botswana. In several ways, the Botswana government is doing better than the American government. They've tended to run surpluses or (after the 2008 financial crash) a moderate deficit. Their GDP growth rate is high.
Rwanda, having come through a period of genocidal war, is now turning its economy around.
That's because unlike some Northern cities in the U.S., Botswana has pursued relatively conservative policies: Balanced or near-balanced budgets, stable currencies, free trade.
It's the Teens!
but it's not a decade unless you include the other three years, and you don't, so the teens is not the name of a decade.
the first decade of the 21st century were the double-naughts.
And just like my own teenage years, I'm not getting laid.
It was the "aughts", obviously.
And you haven't been talking to the right people.
Blogger EMD said,
the Mauve Decade
I just named my new-wave band!
How about "Mauve, Decayed"?
"The Mauve Decade" sounds like an extended stay on Fire Island.
The Teens? Excellent!
I hereby plan on taking a surly and discontented attitude towards anyone in authority for the next seven years. Oh, and sleeping late whenever possible.
Who's with me?
Events are moving so fast, a decade is too long a unit of time to sum up each passing epoch.
I'm just happy to see "eclat" in a blogpost.
Now we know that starting tomorrow we will be in the "decade" of the teens. That decade will only have 7 years and then the new "roaring 20s". I guess the decade we now exit must be "pre-teens" and it had two extra years.
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