Welcome to the Early's!

It's about time that someone named this decade 2000-2009 that we're living in. We hear a lot about the 60's, the 90's, etc. But when it comes to the current decade, well, it's "in the last few years" or whatever. The "Double Oh's" just doesn't work. The "Naught's" I suppose might work, but the fact that "naught" has at least two homonyms makes this confusing and therefore less than ideal. Besides, it just seems natural that a decade name should end in the "ee" sound: the Twenty's, the Eighty's, etc. all have that sound at their end.

We might look for clues for a good decade name by considering how people refer to similar decades, such as 1900-1909 or 1700-1709. It seems to me that they normally say something like "during the early 1900's" or "during the early years of the 18th century." Hmm. Both of these phrases use the word "early." "Early" ends in an "ee" sound....

Yes!!! Of course! The obvious choice for the name of this decade is the Early's. So, let me be the first to (belatedly) welcome you to the Early's!