THIS NEW YEAR WE CAN DROP THE HABIT OF SAYING THE YEAR THE "LONG WAY"... TO WIT: "TWO THOUSAND AND NINE..."
BACK IN THE GOOD OLE DAZE OF THE 20TH CENTURY WE WERE ABLE TO SAY..."NINETEEN SIXTY" OR NINETEEN NINETY"....REMEMBER? SHORT AND SWEET.
THE PROBLEM IS HOW TO SAY "ZERO"... IT'S NOT REALLY AN "O"..."OH"...ITS A ZERO "0"....RIGHT...?
BACK IN THE 1900's...THEY STILL USED THE WORD "NAUGHT" OR "AUGHT" FOR ZERO...THAT IS THE WAY KIDS WERE TAUGHT IN SCHOOL TO SAY "ZERO"..."NAUGHT" OR "AUGHT"...
SO THEY COULD SAY: NINETEEN AUGHT SEVEN...FOR 1907....NINETEEN "O" SEVEN...
ANYWAY...NOW WE CAN GO BACK TO THE OLD WAY OF SAYING THE YEAR...NO NEED TO USE A THE LETTER "O" AS IF IT WERE A NUMBER...
NEXT YEAR WILL BE......"TWENTY TEN"..... NOT NECESSARILY "TWO THOUSAND AND TEN".....
SO WE ARE GOOD FOR ANOTHER HUNDRED YEARS...!
POSTSCRIPT:
IS THIS TOO WILLIAM SAFIRE...?
