The greatest debate of all time

I think it is the most important question that has not been relevant for 1000 years.

What year will we start calling it "Twenty-...", instead of "Two Thousand-..."??

For instance, we say "two-thousand eight" instead of "twenty oh eight"? Why?

In 1999, a friend and I had a great debate as to what year we would change over, and secondly, why we said "two-thousand" and two-thousand one" to begin with. We literally debated this topic for days.

He contended that in two or three years people would naturally shorten it because that was how we called every year up until then.

I felt that because of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey", people would pronounce it "two thousand one". In addition, it is the same amount of syllables in "two thousand one" and twenty oh one". You can't say "twenty one" because it sounds like, well, 21.

For me, the critical year is 2010 for the exact same reasons. The movie "2010" was pronounced "Twenty ten" and because you can lose a syllable if you say "twenty ten" instead of two thousand ten". People are lazy and will shorten a sentence if they can.

Now that we are much closer, I hear it both ways. Will the Super Bowl be in Dallas in "twenty eleven" or two thousand eleven"? Maybe it lasts until 2013. "Two thousand thirteen" is a mouthful. "Twenty thirteen" comes off much smoother.

I'd like to hear your opinions. This is what keeps me up at night.