The Noughties

[webny99]

I first learned of the term "noughties" via this post, made by JN Winkler, and instantly took a liking to it (hence this thread).

Firstly, how do you say noughties?
Naturally, I'd say "nah-dees", in stereotypical Rochester style (very nasally sounding). However, I'd expect that in Britain, where the term originated, it sounds more like it's spelled: "nought-ies" with emphasis on the "t".

Secondly, why hasn't this term been widely adopted outside Britain?
I've often wished there was a convenient term for the decade 2000-2009, as well as 2010-2019. Then again, the word "nought" itself is rarely heard here in the US, so maybe that explains it. I wonder if Britain has a similar term for the current decade. We have "teens", but that excludes 2010-12, and doesn't specifically refer to calendar years; it's also commonly used to describe the age group.

Thirdly, what about the noughties themselves?
What were the most important events and technological developments of these years, i.e. what will still have an impact on our lives 50 years from now? Some obvious examples are the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, and the advent of the IPhone. Discuss.

[abefroman329]

I've also heard "oughties," I guess "ought" is marginally more common than "nought" in the US as a synonym for "zero."  I first heard "noughties" in the UK and it's pronounced more or less the same as "naughties."

[Max Rockatansky]

Usually I just refer to a specific year, we're way too early into this century to define decades as a generalization IMO. 

[hotdogPi]

What were the most important events and technological developments of these years, i.e. what will still have an impact on our lives 50 years from now? Some obvious examples are the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, and the advent of the IPhone. Discuss.

Many websites started in the 2000s decade, including Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Wikipedia, and Youtube. (Google started earlier.)

[abefroman329]

Usually I just refer to a specific year, we're way too early into this century to define decades as a generalization IMO.

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

[hotdogPi]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

[jeffandnicole]

Usually I just refer to a specific year, we're way too early into this century to define decades as a generalization IMO.

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

I think it's easier to do so well after the era has ended.  In 2030, you can probably easily distinguish the styles from 2005-15, especially compared to the styles of present (meaning, 2030).

[abefroman329]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

OK, yes, but specifically, there haven't been changes in fashion between 2005 and 2015 that are as distinct as, say, a Nehru jacket and a leisure suit.  Or the narrow tie and the wide tie.  Or all of the earth tones of the mid 90s. 

[jeffandnicole]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

OK, yes, but specifically, there haven't been changes in fashion between 2005 and 2015 that are as distinct as, say, a Nehru jacket and a leisure suit.  Or the narrow tie and the wide tie.  Or all of the earth tones of the mid 90s. 

https://www.dmjuice.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/30/fashion-now/30740947/

[abefroman329]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

OK, yes, but specifically, there haven't been changes in fashion between 2005 and 2015 that are as distinct as, say, a Nehru jacket and a leisure suit.  Or the narrow tie and the wide tie.  Or all of the earth tones of the mid 90s. 

https://www.dmjuice.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/30/fashion-now/30740947/

Literally any of the pictures from 2005 could have been taken today, let alone in 2015.

[MisterSG1]

I personally like to say the phrase "twenty-aughts"  when referring to the first decade of the 2000s, unfortunately this hasn't caught on. The 1900s first decade was referred to as the "nineteen-aughts" .

Some of my posts here when I refer to construction projects but can't recall the year, I've typed for instance that the 401 widening out in Cambridge west of Homer Watson was completed in the early 20-aughts.

This decade can easily be called the 2010s as there's no ambiguity like there is with the 2000s or 20-aughts. The real question becomes when society reaches the 2030s if he will still refer to that period in American History as "The Roaring Twenties"  by that name.

I assumed noughties was derived from both "nineties"  and "aughts"  but who knows.

[hotdogPi]

The real question becomes when society reaches the 2030s if he will still refer to that period in American History as "The Roaring Twenties"  by that name.

Yes. We still have the Gay Nineties to refer to the 1890s, even though the 1990s have already passed. Similarly, the 2020s will become just "The Twenties", while the 1920s will remain "The Roaring Twenties".

[Max Rockatansky]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

OK, yes, but specifically, there haven't been changes in fashion between 2005 and 2015 that are as distinct as, say, a Nehru jacket and a leisure suit.  Or the narrow tie and the wide tie.  Or all of the earth tones of the mid 90s. 

https://www.dmjuice.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/30/fashion-now/30740947/

Literally any of the pictures from 2005 could have been taken today, let alone in 2015.

One thing you could probably say was that the late 2000s decade saw the return of approachable performance cars that looked appealing becoming mainstream again.  I still remember the 2008 Challenger and the Camaro concept (which began production in 2010) were game changers.  In the 2010s even vanilla cars are starting to become visually appealing again which was a nice change from the 80s/90s/00s box-to-jelly bean area of car design.

[formulanone]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

OK, yes, but specifically, there haven't been changes in fashion between 2005 and 2015 that are as distinct as, say, a Nehru jacket and a leisure suit.  Or the narrow tie and the wide tie.  Or all of the earth tones of the mid 90s. 

https://www.dmjuice.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/30/fashion-now/30740947/

Literally any of the pictures from 2005 could have been taken today, let alone in 2015.

I suppose fashionistas and those who follow those things closely would spot the differences and could narrow things down to a more specific time-frame, just as we have those who can tell a '57-spec Interstate shield from a '60s-spec. Me, I couldn't really tell; I have clothes that are between 10-20 years old in hanging in my closet, even older for jackets. That's a perk of: A) it still fits B) not caring about the latest fashion C) too old to care.

But sometimes fashion from one specific year or season becomes a definition for an entire decade or a generation, and that's sometimes how things get lumped together in a stereotypical way. Hollywood's vision of the Bohemian "hippie" was a period from 1967 to 1969, and isn't interchangeable with fashions from earlier in the decade. The poodle skirt was only worn for a few years in the late-1950s. Some of the fluorescent and high-contrast colors of the 1980s fashion shined and dimmed in about two years. Musically, the 1970s are linked to disco, but that wasn't really a thing until 1974 at the soonest. Grunge lasted vaguely four years in the 1990s. As Kurt Vonnegut would say: And so on.

But times change; few fashions or statements are expected to last more than a year or two, unless they create an overwhelming impact on society (or we can't live without it). It's bound to be replaced by the latest thing; people get bored and they're distracted by the next shiny object:

Five years later, it's out of date.
Ten years later, it's forgotten.
Fifteen years later, it's a vague cultural curiosity.
Twenty years later, it's an underground retro-thing.
Twenty-five years later, it's mainstream again.
(Thirty years later, we're bemoaning how there's no good ideas left.)

It seems to be used more by the British. I have seen the word written out (or typed-out), but haven't actually met anyone actually say the word "Noughties" or "Aughties", probably because it sounds like the word naughties, which sounds either very childish or as a euphemism for people with a weird fetish. I don't remember a convenient term for period from 1900-1910, other than "beginning of the (twentieth/last) century" or "Early 1900s).

Here's a pretty good run-down of it. (Yes, there's a bit of a left-bent to it, mostly due to it being a media-based site in which art is imitating life and vice-versa. Get over it.)

[jeffandnicole]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

OK, yes, but specifically, there haven't been changes in fashion between 2005 and 2015 that are as distinct as, say, a Nehru jacket and a leisure suit.  Or the narrow tie and the wide tie.  Or all of the earth tones of the mid 90s. 

https://www.dmjuice.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/30/fashion-now/30740947/

Literally any of the pictures from 2005 could have been taken today, let alone in 2015.

That's how eras work though.  It's not like a year or a decade ends and suddenly fashion changes.  1985 was similar to 1975 but there were some differences - disco wasn't as popular, etc.  In a number of years, you can look back and appreciate the changes a bit more.

Using the example that 1 posted, the 1920's were known as the roaring 20's, although there was a minor thing called the Wall Street Crash of 1929 which doesn't match up well with the rest of the decade.

[SectorZ]

Yeah, I can't really point to any particular style or trend that would distinguish, say, 2005 from 2015 the way you could distinguish between, say, 1975 and 1985.

Smartphones and Internet culture.

OK, yes, but specifically, there haven't been changes in fashion between 2005 and 2015 that are as distinct as, say, a Nehru jacket and a leisure suit.  Or the narrow tie and the wide tie.  Or all of the earth tones of the mid 90s. 

https://www.dmjuice.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/30/fashion-now/30740947/

That story just reminded me what a smokeshow Rachel Bilson was in the OC 15 years ago.

[abefroman329]

That's how eras work though.  It's not like a year or a decade ends and suddenly fashion changes.  1985 was similar to 1975 but there were some differences - disco wasn't as popular, etc.  In a number of years, you can look back and appreciate the changes a bit more.

Yes, I'm aware that "the seventies" did not start in 1970 or 1971, "the eighties" did not start in 1980 or 1981, etc.  That's why I deliberately didn't choose those years.  And I think it'd be very easy to tell which was a business suit in 1967 and which was a business suit in 1977, even in 1977.  Are you sure you'd be able to tell me which of my business suits I bought today and which one I bought in 2008?

[webny99]

Clothing may be changing less from year to year (or from decade to decade) these days.

That doesn't mean there hasn't been plenty of other changes since 2008 to talk about.

[Takumi]

Remember MySpace? What a time to be alive...

[Scott5114]

It hasn't caught on in Oklahoma because literally nobody here uses "nought" or "aught" to mean zero. It's either "zero" or "O". So you'd be more likely to hear someone say "the O-Os" before you would "the noughties".

Another problem with "the noughties" is that, at least in the US, it's homophonous with "the naughties", and then you're stuck explaining to the person who hasn't heard it before that that span of ten years did nothing wrong, you mean "nought" as in zero, and...in the end it's easier to use the longer but more readily understood "2000s".

If we're going to go with something based on a synonym for zero that nobody uses, why not something based on "cipher"? That would at least sound pretty cool.

[index]

Remember MySpace? What a time to be alive...

I remember, when my older brothers (who were born in the mid-90s) first got a myspace, my idiot five-year-old self tried to get one too. I followed them everywhere on every single website, I'm sure that was fun for them.

[webny99]

Another problem with "the noughties" is that, at least in the US, it's homophonous with "the naughties", and then you're stuck explaining to the person who hasn't heard it before that that span of ten years did nothing wrong, you mean "nought" as in zero, and...in the end it's easier to use the longer but more readily understood "2000s".

I agree. I just think that, in general, even outside the context of decades, there should be some universal term for 0-9, and another for 10-19. Preferably, it should meet two criteria: (a) maximum length of three syllables, and (b) ends with "-ies".

[US71]

Remember MySpace? What a time to be alive...

Then all my friends migrated to Fakebook and I eventually followed.

[freebrickproductions]

I just call the first decade of this millennium the "2000s" and the current decade the "2010s". Maybe someday we'll have a "proper" nickname for these decades, but they work fine as is right now.

[webny99]

I just call the first decade of this millennium the "2000s"

That no longer works for "1900's", which now refers to the entire century, not just 1900-1909.