Is the phrase “the year 2000” or, more widely, “the year 20XX,” lost to history forever? I believe it is–except preserved in old movies and TV shows.
Before 2000 rolled around, people almost always referred to this future event as “the year two-thousand.”
I remember wondering, pre-2000, if people would continue that usage. They didn’t, and now it’s gone.
My theory has two points:
- “Two-thousand” sounded too abrupt, too short. Some filler material was needed for the listener to pick up on the phrase. It’s no different than saying, “You know, I’d like to ask you if you’d fix me some Ovaltine,” rather than “Fix me Ovaltine.” Certainly, polite words are added to the former (“ask,” for one), but the point is that you are fixing the listener’s attention on what you will be saying.
- “Two-thousand” had little meaning to pre-2000 listeners in a time element. Thus, “the year” established that we were talking about 2000 times, rather than 2000 potatoes or 2000 gallons of diesel.
