Speaking of the next decade, how did the people who lived in Theodore Roosevelt’s America refer to the decade they were going through? I suspect they called it “the 1900s” or “the hundreds”–a natural sequel to “the 1890s” or “the nineties”–but I wasn’t around then. They must have called it something, and it seems odd that no record of this has emerged as we approach another double-0 decade. You know everything, Cecil, even about the past. How’d they handle this the last time?
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It’s not that folks a hundred years ago didn’t have nicknames for the decades they lived in. The 1890s, for example, were known as the Naughty 90s. You know, because they rode bicycles and stuff.
As far as I can tell, however, the 1900s had no such nickname. Even “the 1900s” was used only infrequently. Either it was a period of global monotony, or else they discovered what we’re about to: there is no suitable term, and cumbersome locutions are your only recourse.
Opening/first/early years [of the century]–19 citations.
At least people are starting to wake up to the fact that we’ve got a problem. Combing through the data banks I find anxious discussions of the subject in the Atlantic, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, and the Dartmouth (“America’s Oldest College Newspaper”). The New York Times has written editorials urging that we call it the “ohs.” The ohs. The uh-ohs. Sorry, can’t see it.
Is there something you need to get straight? Cecil Adams can deliver the Straight Dope on any topic. Write Cecil Adams at the Chicago Reader, 11 E. Illinois, Chicago 60611; E-mail him at cecil@chireader.com; or visit the Straight Dope area at America Online, keyword: Straight Dope.
