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Is it normal that I get annoyed when I hear people say 2010 as Twenty-Ten? I say two-thousand-and-ten or simply two-thousand-ten. I know it means the same thing, but I find Twenty-ten to be really annoying.
To be fair... we didn't call 1999 one-thousand-nine-hundre-ninety-nine. But hey, i suppose everyone has their pet peeves.
It seems to me like people are just too lazy to say it "right," and as long as I can fully understand the meaning, any way you say it is fine by me. Twenty-ten just seems to roll off the tongue easier, imo, but I guess I say both interchangeably. But then, I like to talk, lol.
Calling zero an "o" annoys me, though. But, same thing, as long as I know what they mean and there's no confusion, I can deal with it. I only very rarely do it myself, and when I do, only when speaking a number-only string.
I don't get irritated by alternate names, but I myself prefer to say it as "two thousand ten." It was probably because of the old movie 2010 who's title was spoken the same way.
I always say "two-thousand-and-ten" too, although, it does make sense to call it "twenty-ten." After all, we talk of "eighteen-ten" and "nineteen-ten," don't we? But "two-thousand-and-ten" is what I just naturally say, without even thinking about it.
I predicted back in the 'aughts that people would start pronouncing it 'twenty' once we entered the 'teens. It just makes sense, you know? Are people going to say, "two-thousand and thirteen" or "twenty-thirteen"? After all, we all said "nineteen" last century. That's why I couldn't stand the 'aughts, because I wanted to say "twenty-oh-two," etc
It bothers me when people are giving a phone number and say oh. "Nine oh Nine" It's like. NO
It's nine ZERO nine. Force of habit, I think.
I actually made a poll about this on my blog for my friends to fill out. Most of the people who voted said that they're going to pronounce it as "twenty ten".
I don't think your situation is abnormal, really. I guess I'm just wondering why the word annoys you...:-P.