A Glimmer of Hope

With the end of the decade fast approaching historians are ramping it up to find a concept to summarize the period. So says the eminent historian Simon Schama. Link here.

Schama informs us that the British have dubbed the decade: the Noughties, a nice play on nothingness and decadence. In American they would be called the Aughties, but not, as Schama says, the Oughties.

I'm not sure why a decade filled with wars and capped off with an economic crisis should be defined in those terms, but, then again, I am not an historian.

Schama, however, takes the concept and draws the next and most logical conclusion. Having just passed through the Noughties or Oughties, he declares: "... if we end up calling the next decade 'the Teenies,' then, I must regretfully announce There Truly Is No Hope."

While I hate to correct such an eminent an historian, I will this one time, in the interest of keeping a glimmer of hope alive.

Strictly speaking, next year will not begin "the Teenies;" it will usher in "the Pre-Teenies."