A family-dividing issue
In my household a great debate is raging: is the current year pronounced “twenty-ten” or “two-thousand-ten”?
The men in my family (that being me and my 6-year-old son) vote “twenty-ten”.
The women (my wife, three oldest daughters and probably my 6-month-old daughter too) vote “two-thousand-ten”.
They claim that “twenty-ten” sounds “weird”. I say that “two-thousand-ten” sounds like a number, not a year.
Is this a gender issue? Or perhaps my son just joined with me because I was all alone in my defense and he felt sorry for me.
Feel free to weigh in on this vital issue. If the consensus is that it should be “twenty-ten”, I’ll know my wife is crazy. If the consensus is that it should be “two-thousand-ten”, I’ll know that my readers are. 
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Well, I’ve seen/heard it both ways, but look at our normal naming conventions, which have been messed up a bit by moving out of the ‘teens.
When we look at history, do we say this country was founded in “One thousand, seven hundred seventy-six”, “Seventeen hundred seventy-six”, or “Seventeen seventy-six”? I’ve seen the third everywhere, the second in old documents, and songs that needed the extra syllables to scan well, but I have never seen the first anywhere.
However, what have we called 2000-2009? Have you ever heard “Twenty-oh-oh” ? Did you ever hear “Twenty-oh-nine”? I’ve never heard anything but “Two thousand” “Two thousand one”, “Two thousand nine”. Yet, now that we are into double digits, I guarantee you we will hear “Twenty-ten” and twenty-everything else. That’s what we called “2010″, the sequel to the movie “2001″ (which we pronounced “two thousand one”, right?).
So, I stand squarely and forthrightly – with one shoe in both camps. XD
Not to betray my sex or anything, but being pathologically lazy, I think ‘twenty-ten’ is just easier to say. Sorry, Suzan.
It is a gender issue. two-thousand-ten is 25% more syllables as twenty ten. Women just like to talk more than men.
Or, perhaps men are just lazy. Whatever the reason “twenty-ten” is the proper form of pronouncing 2010.
Not only is “twenty-ten” the correct pronounciation, but your son is also a good little man for standing by his father – regardless of the ‘correct’ position.