How Do You Solve a Problem Like 2010?

This is an interesting article from the Telegraph that talks about the internal debate at the BBC about how to pronounce the years in the coming decade.

Should it be twenty-ten.

Two tousand ten.

Two O One O.

Inquiring minds are trying to figure it out.

From the Telegraph article:

The subject was raised in a programme on Radio 2 on Boxing Day – which was hosted the Doctor Who actors David Tennant and Catherine Tate

Tennant, 38, referred to the year as ‘twenty ten’, when telling a listener to have a “wonderful new year”.

Tate, said: “Oh twenty-ten – get you! Who’s been reading the compliance rules!’”

Tennant told their guest, Bernard Cribbins: “We’re supposed to say twenty-ten.”

But Cribbins said he believed most elderly people would prefer to say two thousand and ten.

Miss Tate added: “You’re not allowed to say two thousand and ten…The people in there are exploding!”

The BBC has a unit which decides on uniform pronunciation. However, the BBC said there had been no ruling on 2010.

A spokesman said: “Prior to the show, it was decided “twenty ten” was the easiest way to pronounce the year. It was not breaking any rules to say it in an alternative way.”

Personally, I prefer Twenty Ten and that will be the official pronunciation from Anglotopia.net.