When listening to the radio it is not uncommon to hear ‘playing the best of the 90's' or ‘your number one source for the 60's and 70's.' Every decade in the past hundred years has been given a nickname appropriate to the time in which it took place. Since every other decade has a name, it only makes sense that the span between the beginning of 2000 and end of 2009 should join the ranks of decades past.

When scanning the radio the day after New Years, I was given my answer as to what this newly completed decade would be called. Every radio station that was not already dedicated to a certain time-frame was playing consecutive marathons of music from 2000 on, and when these stations would break for commercials the same sentiment would be expressed on every one. "Stay tuned to 104.7 KDUK, where we're running down the best artists of the naughties all day!"

The naughties, as in 00, all for naught. ‘Naught' comes from the word ‘nothing' which seems perfectly fitting, but when put in this form naughties becomes a play on words. It's beginning to look like the decade that most of us grew up in is going to be defined by a bad pun.

What's surprising is the speed with which every radio station on the airwaves seemed to agree on this choice of words. Within 24 hours of the start of 2010 every themed station from pop to country to mariachi was using the same play on words to lump the music of the past 10 years together. It's almost as though Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch got together on New Years Eve and hand picked the most recent decade's name themselves.

Now that the term ‘the naughties' has been accepted by radio personalities everywhere, it won't be long until people are reminiscing fondly of events that transpired in the naughties. Naughties clothing and hair styles will be satirized in various sketch comedy programs and made for TV movies.

 In the grand scheme of things, what the powers that be decide to call the new decade isn't all that important, and besides the occasional cringe at hearing 2000 to 2009 forever linked with a play on words, life will go on just as it did before. But even so it will be interesting to see which aspects of the naughties history decides to forget, and which will be linked to that decade for years to come.