It s not a huge problem on the world s long list of huge problems. It affects only that part of the world that uses the Gregorian calendar. But it affects us every day and the problem will get worse. The tastemakers in the broadcast media are pronouncing it two thousand one. But it won t do for a permanent name.
History is on the side of the latter.
Darwin s Origin of Species was published in 1859 as in eighteen fifty-nine. The stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression was in 1929, as in nineteen twenty-nine. I suspect we are going to call 2010 twenty-ten that is if the corporation that makes the windshield washer fluid hasn t trademarked the name and doesn t insist on charging us royalties every time we use it. You kids are soft nowadays. Beam me up, Scotty.