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So, I ran into an interesting question today. I worked with Mr. H (the one who brings me candy) and we did a lesson with the JHS 3rd years on "since (date)" and "for (period of time)"-- like, "I have lived in London for 6 years" or "I have lived in Hagi since I was born."
Before we could start, though, we had to talk a little about the pronunciation of years, since English is unique in that until the year 2000, the years are divided into two-digit segments*, like "Eighteen fifty-two" (1852) and "Nineteen ninety-six" (1996). Mr. H had deduced that the 2000s are pronounced "Two-thousand (and X)," but then he took me totally off-guard when he asked me: "But now is this year 'Two-thousand eleven' or 'Twenty eleven'?"
It's funny, because I remember wondering in the late '90s whether 2000 and the following decade would be pronounced "Twenty-hundred" (since we said "Nineteen-hundred" for 1900) and I was kind of put off when everyone said "Two-thousand" with no exception, since that didn't fit with the pattern of every other year. However, I obviously got used to it, because by the time 2010 rolled around I just automatically called it "Two-thousand ten" and I didn't think to question it until today.
And then I realized: I haven't lived in an English-speaking country during this decade. While I know what I say, I don't know if it matches up with the majority. (And maybe it differs depending on region or something anyway?). I don't think year nomenclature is the sort of thing with published rules, at least not that anyone would pay enough attention to to follow, so all I can think of is to take a poll. What do you say?
[Poll #1754615]
I'm going to pass the results along to Mr. H. Like the Rock, Paper, Scissors (or whatever you call it-- that's the point!) thing it's probably way more interesting to me than him (and he's just annoyed there I things I don't *know* about my native language, lol), but hey.
Before we could start, though, we had to talk a little about the pronunciation of years, since English is unique in that until the year 2000, the years are divided into two-digit segments*, like "Eighteen fifty-two" (1852) and "Nineteen ninety-six" (1996). Mr. H had deduced that the 2000s are pronounced "Two-thousand (and X)," but then he took me totally off-guard when he asked me: "But now is this year 'Two-thousand eleven' or 'Twenty eleven'?"
*This is different from every other language I've learned to say the date in (Japanese and Spanish), in which you read the number the way you normally would-- which feels so long-winded to me since I'm used to the simplifying split. This was especially noticeable when I took Spanish in middle school straddling the millennium change; I was so relieved when we got to switch from the tongue-twisting "Mil novecientos noventa y nueve" to simple "Dos mil."
It's funny, because I remember wondering in the late '90s whether 2000 and the following decade would be pronounced "Twenty-hundred" (since we said "Nineteen-hundred" for 1900) and I was kind of put off when everyone said "Two-thousand" with no exception, since that didn't fit with the pattern of every other year. However, I obviously got used to it, because by the time 2010 rolled around I just automatically called it "Two-thousand ten" and I didn't think to question it until today.
And then I realized: I haven't lived in an English-speaking country during this decade. While I know what I say, I don't know if it matches up with the majority. (And maybe it differs depending on region or something anyway?). I don't think year nomenclature is the sort of thing with published rules, at least not that anyone would pay enough attention to to follow, so all I can think of is to take a poll. What do you say?
[Poll #1754615]
I'm going to pass the results along to Mr. H. Like the Rock, Paper, Scissors (or whatever you call it-- that's the point!) thing it's probably way more interesting to me than him (and he's just annoyed there I things I don't *know* about my native language, lol), but hey.
