How come we're 5 years into the 2020's, and no one calls it the 20's?

[Polybius]

I'm not old enough to remember way far back, but I do remember that in the 80's, people called it the 80's. Same thing for the 90's. 2000-2019 messed things up (I called it the zero's and teens), so I eagerly awaited 2020. Except no one but me is calling it the 20's now. Why? Was it a 19xx thing only? Does it have to be in the past first? If so, do we have to wait for the 2030's?

[LearnedHand]

1. Funny I was just wondering this today

I'm learning another language and they introduced terminology for "the eighties," "the sixties," and so on. I too wondered why we don't refer to this decade as "the 20s." I actually do refer to the first two decades of the millenium as "the aughts" and "the teens."

[madamesilverspurs]

2. A century ago we had the Roaring 20s.

Given everything that's going down, we could be living in the Cussing 20s. Or gagging. Or crying. Or screaming. Or raging. Or howling. Or . . . ?


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[Paladin]

3. Perhaps other matters have been occupying our attention lately. (nt)

[Harker]

4. The 20th century used them up.

My parents were born in the 20s.