Welcome to Twenty-Eleven

First of all, Happy New Year to all! I hope the year will be enjoyable and rewarding for all of us.

Last year at this time, we discussed the burning question that arose as the 21st century hit its teen years: Is it time to switch over from "two thousand and..." to "twenty..." when pronouncing the name of the year? If one is looking for economy of syllables, the former certainly makes sense, though casual listening to personal conversations and various media showed a split between "twenty-ten" and "two thousand and ten" for the year that was just completed. Still, I noted that the problem might solve itself today, since "twenty-eleven" rolls off the tongue much more easily than does "two thousand and eleven," and if worse comes to worst, we're bound to return to the "classic" (i.e. pre-2000) pronunciation by 2020, just because that number is so strongly associated with both the TV show and perfect vision.

An informal poll on Facebook earlier today seems to bear this out, as nobody who responded was strongly in the more-syllables camp, and the vast majority were in complete agreement with me. So what do you think; will the classic pronunciation finally take hold this year.

And again, Happy New Year, no matter how you say it.