컴팩스 카카오톡 채널(http://pf.kakao.com/_EMNxfK) 친구추가 하시면 일주일에 한 번씩 다양한 주제의 포스트를 받아보실 수 있습니다.
Happy New Year! How do you predict Americans will read this date: January 1, 2022?
a) January one, two-thousand twenty-two
b) January first, two-thousand twenty-two
c) January one, twenty twenty-two
d) January first, twenty twenty-two
While we can’t be certain, our prediction is d). Following is the typical pattern for reading dates.
Americans read the month as written.
For the numerical day, 1, 2, and 3 are read as first, second, and third, and this convention extends to 21, 22, 23, and 31, which are read twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, and thirty-first. The remaining numbers 4-20 and 24-30 are read with the addition of the voiceless “th” sound at the end. For example, four becomes fourth, and so on.
When reading the year, the counting pattern diverges. When counting or stating quantity, we pronounce the word “thousand,” but when reading dates, the first 2 digits are said as one number and the second two digits as another number. For the first 19 centuries, “zero” is said as “oh,”.
1492: One thousand four hundred and ninety-two (counting/quantity) / Fourteen ninety-two (year)
1801: One thousand eight hundred and one (counting/quantity) / Eighteen "oh" one (year)
Interestingly, in the first 10 years of the current century, this pattern was not commonly employed. Americans simply didn’t adopt the expression “twenty oh” and instead pronounced the full number for the year, including the word “thousand.”
2001: Two thousand and one (counting) / Two thousand one (year)
2009: Two thousand and nine (counting) / Two thousand nine (year)
People began to adopt both pronunciations of the date from 2010:
2012: Two thousand and twelve (counting) / Two thousand twelve or twenty twelve (year)
For this year, the pronunciation “twenty-twenty-two” or “twenny-twenny-two” rolls off the tongue, so we predict it will fall into favor over “two thousand twenty-two.”
However you say it, Compecs wishes you the best in 2022!
