This question is related to my previous question (pronouncing this
decade), but is a little more tricky, as it is a matter of
speculation. I would like to see at least article that has been
written about this question.

As far I am aware, all the years of this century until now (2005) have
been universally pronounced (in English speaking countries) 'two
thousand (and) one/two/three/four/five'

Once we hit 2010, I expect that we'll universally switch to 'twenty +
2 digit year number pronounciation.

I speculate that after this time, we will continue to stick with the
'twenty' pronouciation of all years, including previous years, and
thus refer to this year in future for example as 'twenty o-five.'

So, for an answer, research whether anyone has written about this yet,
and if their speculation agrees with mine.

As I'm curious, for a bonus I would appreciate knowning if this
ambiguity can apply with other languages.

Hello eppy,

First, I'll concur with tutuzdad's comment.  I recall Charles Osgood's
use of "twenty o five," and have noticed it occasionally elsewhere.

Still, "two thousand (and) five" seems much more common now.  You'll
be happy to know that others have thought about this issue.  For me,
the most convincing argument in favor of your view is that 1066 is now
pronounced "ten sixty-six" rather than "one thousand (and) sixty-six."

I think a debatable point is whether "two thousand (and) five" will
generally become "twenty oh five."  After all, some would say the year
1005 as "one thousand and five," even if others say "ten oh five." 
(The "thousand" years are special; a "hundred" year such as 1905 is
"nineteen oh five.")  But my feeling after doing this research is that
"twenty oh five" will indeed become the dominant pronunciation,
especially as we get further from this decade and become more used to
saying "twenty oh."

Here are three articles on the "two thousand -- / twenty --" question:

"2020 Vision" (2nd January, 2005)
QBlog [Richard Bartle]
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~rabartle/QBlog020105A.html

Google cache of "A matter of semantics," by Ray Brecheisen (December 30, 2001)
The Morning Sun [Pittsburg, KS]
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:-hl0OOb2NI0J:www.morningsun.net/stories/123001/opi_1230010059.shtml

"What Year is it Anyway!", by Stacey Woelfel (July 2001)
KOMU
http://www.komu.com/html/htmlColumns/woelfelcolumnjuly01.htm

See also:

"Names of numbers in English -- 4. Dates"
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_name_numbers_in_English#Dates

I haven't researched other languages -- there are many languages, and
I had little time after doing the English language research.  But I
believe I can say, from my knowledge of French and German, that this
issue won't arise in those languages.  There is a set pronunciation in
those languages -- 2005 is "deux mille cinq" and "Zweitausendfünf" --
which has no competition.

- justaskscott


Search strategy --

Searched on Google for combinations of these terms:

"twenty o"
"twenty oh"
"two thousand"
"one thousand"
"ten sixty-six"

Great Answer! Exactly what I was looking for. Its nice to know that
I'm not the only that has speculated about this.

Charles Osgood, host of the CBS News Sunday Morning show, and
legendary radio personality Paul Harvey already use the term
"twenty-O-five". They both seem quite comfortable with the accuracy of
their grammar where this is concerned.

tutuzdad-ga

I wonder if we should blame Arthur C. Clarke for the current
situation? If his book/movie wasn't pronounced "two thousand and one",
maybe we would have just had the one year 2000 as a deserved anomaly
for a special year, then switched to "twenty o-one"...

Being French I can help a little ; as said before for 2005 and
following there's no problem, it will be like your 'two thousands
five' : 'deux mille cinq' or 'deux mille onze' for 2011 for exemple.
For years 1100 to 1999 you have the choice between both pronunciation 
exemple with 1515 : 'quinze cents quinze' or 'mille cinq cents quinze'
translated to 'fifteen hundreds / fifteen' and 'thousand / five hundreds / fifteen'
Contrary to english we have to had 'hundred' in between. The form
using hundreds is used more by mature people but almost never by
younger people.

In TV news when they hae to deal with years after 2100 they used the
'thounsand' form too and never the 'hundreds' form. I guess it's just
because it's shorter and easier to say.
2115 : -'deux mille cent quize' but not 'ving-et-un cents quinze'