It’s two thousand ten, people. Not twenty ten! At least in my book. In a recent discussion about this very thing, someone said "double ought nine" referencing our previous year. "Double Ought?" I asked. "What do you mean ought?" I had never heard this before. Or, I probably have, but was too busy at the time thinking about some other word to stop and ponder what ought was.
I immediately asked this person to please tell me where ought comes from. Like, is it the German word for zero? It kind of sounds like it should be. Or Swahili for the letter 'O'? Not answering me, this person instead used it appropriately in another phrase. "Yes, I know," I snottily said. "I get its usage. I need to know its etymology though! You ought to know if you’re using it!" (Alanis says so too: "you... you... you... oughtta know!")
Here’s what I got.
Ought is another way of spelling aught, which is related to the word naught, which means "nothing." Coming from Old English, naught is a mix of 'na' meaning "no" and 'wiht' meaning "thing." No thing.
How about two ought one ought?
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