The irregularities of modern nomenclature

What year is it?

That's easy, you say. It's 2010.

Indeed it is. But how did you say that year? Did you say, "twenty-ten," or did you say, "Two thousand and ten"?

I hope you said "twenty-ten," as I'm a firm believer that it's time we move past this "two thousand" nonsense that has thus far dominated the new millennium.

That's been one of my biggest pet peeves about the dawn of the 21st century. For hundreds of years, we of Western civilization had a perfectly good way to state the year. We broke it into two parts — the first part, identifying the century; the second part, the year. From almost a thousand years, it's worked perfectly well, providing names of years that were easy to remember and even had a catchy cadence to them.

But all that changed in 2000. Admittedly, saying "twenty hundred" would have been a bit weird. Same goes for "twenty oh-one" or "twenty oh-two."

But we can't keep this up forever. I mean, in 25 years, do we really want to be saying "two thousand and thirty-five," when "twenty thirty-five" rolls off the tongue so much better?

With 2010, we've begun a new decade, and it's a perfectly good time to get back to calling the years what they should be called. "Twenty-ten" can be the start of that new era.

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Speaking of confusing names for things, the nomenclature of some of our local roads leaves much to be desired.

Take the road that runs around the perimeter of the Arkansas Aeroplex. On the east side, near the water tower, it's called "June Gosnell Drive." But the very same road, when turning into the Aeroplex via the gate across from Otto's is marked "Louisiana Avenue." Yet talk to folks around town, and you'll hear it referred to "Perimeter Road."

So which is it?

I haven't a clue.

Perimeter Road is the most descriptive, but it's boring. Louisiana Avenue is the old Air Force name, but many of those have been changed. June Gosnell Drive has the most character, but it may only refer to the section between the Youth Sportsplex and the hospital.

It would make things a lot simpler if the powers that be picked one modern, interesting name for the entire stretch.

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For that matter, the powers that be also ought to look at Blytheville's east end for road names. Anyone who lives in Blytheville can tell you that McDonald's and Burger King on are the same road. But guess what? They're not!

According to their addresses, McDonald's is on East Main, but Burger King is on East Highway 18. I think the way it goes is that Main stops at the interstate, and though the city limits continue for several miles, anything east of I-55 is just "Highway 18."

Isn't it about time to update this, and designate this road as Main Street until it leaves the city limits? Perhaps. But then again, I think it would be odd to think of places like Pathway Church or the Hard Hat convenience store as being located on Main Street.

That said, some clarification is needed. After all, the sign marking the interstate exit refers to this road as "Armorel/Huffman Road." While the description is reasonably accurate, I've never once heard anyone call it that in my more than a decade of living in the Blytheville area.

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Speaking for those who are easily annoyed by trivial nonuniformities, I can say that we clearly need to pay a little more attention to the way we are naming things.