[ccebook.cn]The World in 2010

Leaders
More than a number
Nov 13th 2009
What to call the next ten years, muses Adam Roberts
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names, advises a Chinese proverb. A little wisdom
would be welcome now, as the world turns its back on the naughty noughties and its years of economic
calamity, ill-judged war, terrorism and man-made climate change. So here is a challenge for the forthcoming
decade, beginning in 2010 and ending in 2019: find the right name by which to call it.
Despite a human fondness for sticking labels on all that moves (Adam started it), this is not a task to be
entered into lightly. A namer takes on a heavy burden, as any new parent could report. Blunders with names
may stick for life. The Dwyers will not be forgiven by their teenage daughter, Barb; the Balls are blamed for a
lack of foresight in christening young Crystal. Some mistakes are so grave that officials step in. A New
Zealand judge ordered that a miserable nine-year-old girl be allowed to drop her given name, “Talula Does
The Hula From Hawaii”, in favour of something less awful. And officials in the same country also stopped the
parents of newborn twins who had tried to register one as “Fish” and the other as “Chips”.
All names carry baggage. A survey in 2009, for example, exposed the prejudice of British teachers, who
admitted to judging children long before their arrival in the classroom. From a glance at the register they
routinely expect particular pupils to be mischievous (they tremble at a list of Chardonnays, Caseys, Jacks,
Daniels and Callums, apparently) and others to be angelic swots (the Alexanders, Charlottes and Rebeccas).
Perhaps this reflects a British obsession with class, but the study demonstrates how your name flies ahead of
you, helping to establish a first impression, for good or ill.
Businesses know this well. Slip up with branding and giggling consumers are unlikely to part with their money,
however attractive your latest product might otherwise be. Pity carmakers, for example, who are compelled to
dream up new names for their many models. The Dodge Swinger (launched in 1969) surely appealed only to a
few broad-minded buyers. Spanish speakers were never keen on Mazda’s Laputa (“the whore” on wheels).
The broad lessons are clear: steer away from the silly, the double-entendre, names associated with trouble
and anything that might get the courts involved. Less clear is what specific label to pick for an era. Few time
periods are honoured with descriptions, the odd annus mirabilis or horribilis aside. Neither a century nor a
lustrum is typically graced with any special moniker. Yet decades, for some reason, are usually thought worthy
of a name and an attached adjective. For most of the century this should not be too hard: the 20s, 30s and
so on will arrive, each judged to be roaring, sinking or swinging.
But the next decade, with its awkward teen years, presents a special challenge. How
about an adjective without a connecting name? One commentator on modern events,
Timothy Garton Ash of Oxford University, has already written off the first years of
-17-
The next decade,
with its awkward