What year is it, anyway?
VIEWPOINT
By RALPH HARDIN
Evening Times Editor
No, this is not going to be some political commentary about President Trump taking the country back to the 1950s…
I’m actually wondering how you say the year. I realized today that I’m saying “twenty-twenty-five” when saying 2025 out loud. And that got me to thinking about it and I’m pretty sure I went exclusively with the “twenty-(whatever)” method starting with 2020.
Maybe it’s just because “twenty-twenty” (and every year since then) rolls off the tongue better than “two-thousand-twenty” but I don’t know exactly when I made the switch. I’m pretty sure I was still saying “two-thousand-eighteen” and “two-thousand- nineteen,” at least some of the time, but I’m also sure I used “twenty-fifteen” more often that “two-thousand-fifteen”… at least I think I did. It’s been 10 years since 2015 — which is
See VIEWPOINT, page A6 VIEWPOINT
From page A4
actually pretty crazy to think about. I mean, “two-thousandten” sounds better than “twenty-ten” but there were a few folks who went all in on “twenty-(whatever)” really early on. I personally thought “twenty-oh-four” sounded kind of dumb but to each his or her own I guess.
Curious about the matter (and sorry if I am the only one interested in the least in this idea and have written the most boring column in the world), I consulted the internet for guidance. Both 'Twenty-twenty-five' and 'two-thousand-twentyfive' are correct for pronouncing the year 2025, but they are used in different contexts.
• Twenty-twenty-five is more commonly used in everyday speech and is generally preferred for brevity and simplicity. This follows the pattern used for years like 1999 ('nineteen ninety-nine') and 2020 ('twenty twenty').
• Two-thousand-twenty-five is also correct and might be used in more formal contexts or for emphasis. This pattern was more common in the early 2000s (e.g., 'two thousand one' for 2001) but is still acceptable.
In most cases, 'twentytwenty-five' will sound more natural.
That was super helpful. Now I’ve just got to stop writing “2024” all the time… It’s almost February.
