Forgive the banal observation, but may I ask why the grammar police chose to use to use the phrase 'ought five' instead of the perhaps more common 'aught five'? Happy new year, regardless.

Believe it or not, I considered the question while I was writing the post. For no good reason I found myself writing "ought," and it occurred to me that one or the other is probably an archaic form. I've lost my copy of Garner's Dictionary of Modern American Usage, which would quickly put the debate to bed, but Google prefers "ought-five" to "aught-five" by an order of magnitude (2,530 to 218). The people have spoken, but that hardly settles a case in the grammar court.

Would anyone with a copy of Garner care to look this up?

Nice roundup.

But sweet Mickey on the Cross, does mean I have yet another blog I need to read on a regular basis?

Perhaps 2005 will be the year of meta-blogs, where someone with taste very close to mine will read every blog just to flag the posts I might want to sort through...

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As as to "Sexy Art", I come at these things through film, where this year was the year of the "New Obscenity."

From the "Flesh & blood: sex and violence in recent French cinema" article by James Quandt, all the way down, down, down to the Brown Bunny, the co-option of porn into the mainstream film world proceeds apace.

Personally, I'll never forget the moment when I first saw the music video for the Soundgarden song "Blackholesun" back in the mid-90's with its visually metaphorical little girl oral cumshot. Through the glimmer of MTV, I could see the future.

i demand a post on texas football. c'mon, you longhorn traitor!

Garner calls aught "an anachronism to be avoided." Its use in years dates from 1900 and is actually an error--what people meant was "nought" (for zero), but that apparently sounded too negative. Garner's position, then, is that aught should not be used at all.

"These uses, to the American ear, sound either self-consciously old-fashioned or very British. The American way of saying 2006 is not 'twenty aught six' but 'twenty oh six.'"

"Ought" for a year is completely incorrect, evidently. Its only meaning is "should."

Petey: It's clearly been too long since I've deconstructed a Soundgarden text. Will add to New Year's resolutions. Thanks for reading the ol' weblog—there are certainly enough to choose from.

Seth: Done, special LiveJournal edition just for you. Hook 'em.

Leslie: Garner's right that "oughts" doesn't sound quite right, but what to use in its place? "The Ohs" sounds even worse. I think I like the Naughty Oughties better. . . .

There just isn't a good answer. Fortunately, if we wait it out, this problem goes away. Except for VH1. Bring on the teens!

[Edited a typo. -the Management]