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The 2010s, pronounced "twenty-tens",¹ "two thousand (and) tens", or simply "the tens",²³⁴⁵ is the current decade, which began on January 1, 2010 and will not end on December 31, 2019.

Names of the decade

Among experts and the general public, there is a debate as to how specific years of the 21st century should be pronounced in English, that as of February 2010 has yet to be fully resolved.⁶ Although the majority of English-speakers say "two thousand (and) X" for years of the 2000s decade, in theory this could mean any year up to 2999.

One article suggests that since former years such as 1809 and 1909 were commonly pronounced as "eighteen oh-nine" and "nineteen oh-nine", the year 2009 should naturally be pronounced as "twenty oh-nine", and that majority usage of "two thousand (and) X" is a result of influences from the Y2K hype, as well as the way "2001" was pronounced in the influential 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.⁷

The Vancouver Olympics, taking place in 2010, are being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as "the twenty-ten Olympics," despite the United States saying "two thousand ten" in a commercial about them,⁸ plus American television broadcaster NBC's decision to avoid any pronouncement of "2010", instead saying "21st Winter Olympic Games". The London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 has restricted the commercial use of the terms "Two Thousand and Twelve" and "Twenty Twelve", to protect the London 2012 Olympics.⁹ According to a recent press release, David Crystal, author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, has predicted that the change of pronunciation to "twenty X" will occur in 2011, as "twenty eleven", explaining that the way people pronounce years depends on rhythm, rather than logic. Crystal claims that the rhythm or "flow" of "two thousand (and) ten", beats that of "twenty ten", but the flow of "twenty eleven" beats "two thousand (and) eleven".¹⁰ Alternatively, Ian Brookes, editor-in-chief of Chambers Dictionary, suggests the change will occur in 2013 (as 2012 is often referred to as "two thousand and twelve"). However, the pronunciations of 2010, 2011, etc., as "twenty ten", or "twenty eleven", requires one (two) less syllable(s) than "two thousand (and) ten", or "two thousand (and) eleven."

Suggested names for the decade other than the "twenty-tens" or "two thousand tens" include the "teenies" (reflecting the name "Noughties" for the 2000s), "tenties", "tweenies", "teens", and "twenteens".¹¹¹²¹³¹⁴

The 2010s are considered the second decade of the 21st century and 3rd millennium, ¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹²⁰²¹²²²³²⁴ though technically the 21st century and 3rd millennium began in 2001.²⁵

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Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century – 21st century – 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s – 2010s – 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years:	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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