We have bid farewell to the first month of 2010. I’ve started saying twenty-ten. I think someone told me to – I’m not sure. Anyway, it’s easier.
Our first decade had to turn out as the 2000s. While a hundred years earlier people could easily say nineteen-oh-one, nineteen-aught-two, etc., twenty-oh-one wouldn’t have rolled off the tongue. Twenty’s pronunciation is too complex, somehow. It makes the lips pucker, and so does saying “oh.” So we stuck with two thousand.
Whatever we call it, there’s a new decade under way. Despite my inherent melancholy and the world situation, I am glad I’m here. Nobody told me to be. I think I’m just a sucker for mornings, fresh calendar pages, and trying again.
Happy February.
