Posted
12/07/2009 05:45:00 PM
by Douglas
Ten years later and this decade still doesn't have a name. I'm glad I'm not the only one that's
noticing.Shoulder pads and Reaganomics belong to the '80s. The O.J. Simpson trial and grunge rock helped define the '90s. So September 11 and cell phone texting will remind us of … what? The zeroes? Americans have had 10 whole years to figure out what to call the past decade, and yet most people are still at a loss when it comes to referring to it as anything other than "the current decade" or simply "the 21st century."
This is the reason, do doubt, that Time was able to say it was so
bad. I still think it's a cop out. You can't say it's the worst decade ever before you come up with a name for it.
Some publications like Slate have chosen to trundle forward with their use of “the aughts,” a term that was also used to refer to 1900 through 1909 and is synonymous with "zeroes." Others have tried giving it a cute spin, like The New York Times' Fashion & Style section, which calls it "the aughties."
I think "the aughties" is the best we're going to do. Let's run with it.