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which one is used? and if you have "the class of 2001" is it more proper the former or the latter ("the class of 2001" or "the class of '01" or "the class of '1")? and are there differences between spoken and written english?

  • This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about ELU. Could at best be asked on writersSE. – Kris Sep 30 '13 at 06:30

3 Answers3

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Native speakers of English use both forms:

Class of nineteen ninety-one.

Class of nintey-one.

Both are grammatically correct. Whether two digit years are acceptable to someone isn't a matter of English.

Class of one is bizarre, as is writing writing `1 instead of `01, which looks like abuse of the notation. Two digit years elide the century digits, and the tick used in writing is supposed to denote this elision.

When the century is omitted, it is not an arithmetic subtraction; rather, it is the omission of typographical digits, which are assumed to be implicit. When we make `99 from 1999, we are not subtracting 1900, but erasing 19, and likewise 2001 becomes `01 by the erasure of 20. We should not follow the arithmetic reasoning that 2001 - 2000 = 1. Which digits are missing is up to the context. For instance if the context is dates of birth of living persons, the `17 cannot yet be 2017, and it cannot be 1817.

Community
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Kaz
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  • For birth dates, there's some ambiguity due to centenarians, which is occasionally manifested when 105-year-olds get invited to enroll in kindergarten. – Dan Sep 30 '13 at 04:35
  • "Whether two digit years are acceptable to someone isn't a matter of English." That makes the question off topic. – Kris Sep 30 '13 at 06:29
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In that particular example, they are completely interchangeable. There's no ambiguity in your examples. Since 99.9% of people don't live anywhere near a century, no one is going to think you meant class of 1890 or, more ridiculously class of 2090

Y2K has nothing to do with this. Yes, formally, you use the 4 digit year, but class of ... is commonly written/spoken in both forms. Incidentally, Y2K ended up being a non-event, so I don't think people are worried about that.

This is a style issue. A more pertinent question would be twenty-twelve versus two thousand twelve, but that's not what you asked about.

Giambattista
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    To be fair, Y2K was only a "non-event" because of a LOT of behind-the-scenes work in 1998 and 1999. If the question was how to code it for a college enrollment database, then I would strongly recommend a four-digit format. But the O.P. has only asked about "which one is used?" That could mean anything from a database to a T-shirt. Also, the O.P. has specifically asked about spoken English, where "Class of '14" would be entirely acceptable. – J.R. Sep 29 '13 at 21:03
  • Y2K is just not applicable here (and the next century is 80-some years away anyway). I did say spoken. It can be both spoken and written that way. – Giambattista Sep 29 '13 at 21:33
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You should always use the full year--have we learned nothing from Y2K?--but abbreviating to two digits remains common in all registers of both spoken and written English.

I have never seen anyone abbreviate all the way to "the class of '1", but I suppose people would know what you meant if you did.

zwol
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    It depends on the context; I believe Class of '14 and the like is quite common. I don't think the Y2K bug would apply in this case; very few graduates make it to their 100th class reunions. :^) I strongly concur that Class of '1 should be discouraged, but I'd disagree that one "should always" use the full year. – J.R. Sep 29 '13 at 20:13
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    As far as I'm concerned, the lesson of Y2K is that two-digit years need to be discouraged across the board; otherwise, bad habits will recur. – zwol Sep 29 '13 at 20:19
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    I don't think the slope is that slippery, to be honest. If I say the class of '99, it's because I think it sounds better. I'm afraid you won't be able to change my mind by saying I'll be forming bad habits; I've always stored years with four digits on computers, so my bad habits have yet to cause me any problems. –  Sep 29 '13 at 20:47
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    Across the board? Does that include embroidered letter jackets? The little blurbs on yearbook pages? And why not go with 5 digits? After all, in 8,000 years, our descendents will have to contend with the Y10K bug. ;^) – J.R. Sep 29 '13 at 21:00
  • Yes, yes, and no, leading zeroes add no value. – zwol Sep 29 '13 at 22:20