After the noughties and tens, we’re back on familiar ground

For the past 25 years – including the year 2000 – I have struggled to find an acceptable term to describe the first two of the 21st century’s decades. But I can finally rest easy.

Are you interested in the 70s? I’ll just reach into that canister and pull out a pinch of hippie, a scoop of Gough and a sprinkling of high octane inflation. You’ll love it. Picture: istock

I am a dedicated disciple of the decades. There’s nothing I find more satisfying than grouping human behaviour – social and political – into 10-year chunks that can be arranged, labelled and stored like perfectly proportioned canisters in a pantry.

Are you interested in the 70s? I’ll just reach into that canister and pull out a pinch of hippie, a scoop of Gough and a sprinkling of high octane inflation. You’ll love it.

How about the 80s? Ahh, one of my favourites. Out with hippies, in with Diana and the rise of the ruched collar. (I hope you’re impressed that I know what a ruched collar is.) And in too with the concept of yuppies (young urban professionals) and dinks (double income no kids), both fascinating iterations of the then thirtysomething baby boomer generation.

Indeed the yuppie and the dink were in many respects forerunners of the Millennial hipster that would surface along with the FIFO worker two decades later. For further details see canisters labelled 2000s and 2010s.

And this brings me to my point. For the past 25 years – including the year 2000 – I have struggled to find an acceptable term to describe the first two of the 21st century’s decades.

I refuse to utter the phrase “the noughties” because it sounds like a dad joke. And “the 2000s” is imprecise: do you mean the entirety of the century or just the first 10 years?

And do not get me started on the 2010s. The phrase “the tens” let alone “the teens” is messy; neither has gained universal acceptance and for good reason. Far better to simply refer to the 10 years leading up to 2020 as “the previous decade”. Although this is a temporary solution that must be resolved by the start of the 2030s.

This decades dilemma got me thinking. Surely previous eras of humanity had to deal with the naming of the early decades of the century. And then it struck me. Probably not. We are the first people in history to have struggled en masse with what to call the first and the second ten years of the century.

And the reason is simple. We are about 100 years into the bureaucratic age. Universal education in Australia and indeed across much of the West gathered momentum in the late 19th century. But it wasn’t until after WWI that an educated middle class began to emerge and was required to interact with government and business for the purpose of paying tax, navigating utility bills, receiving social welfare… and filling out forms citing birthdates and the date of a handwritten signature.

Back in the olden days – in the 1990s and earlier – when forms were filled out by hand, the year was commonly referred to by the last two digits, as in 10/2/98 to cite the date 26 years ago. Today, forms are often filled out digitally. The single-digit days and months can include a precautionary zero to ensure the date isn’t later altered by adding a digit. (Who would do that!) And the year is stated in full, as in 10/02/2024, which is just as well because it avoids confusion as to which century we’re talking about.

In any case, now that we’re in 2024 it’s much easier to shorthand things. Once again, we dedicated devotees of the decades can refer to 10-year chunks of time in the gloriously simple style of the 20s and the 30s. I can finally rest easy knowing that the times at last are settled.