The End of the 00s: The Bonds, by Troy Patterson

by The End of the 00s

An ort of parlor conversation of the hour regards the question of what we should call the decade presently expiring, the aughties or ohs or what? For a satisfying answer, I turn to the United Kingdom, where they’ve been doing cool stuff with timekeeping forever, and the 00 section of MI6. About 85 percent serious, I submit the Bonds, with its ease and breeze and ready blockbuster appeal. At one syllable, it is efficient. Its homophone ties it into the 00s’ financial, legal, and pop-psychological gists; likewise, the plash of its voiced bilabial plosive aces its aural exams. Ballots, Bush, bomb, Baghdad, bust, Barack, Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” Here is the banging bonus: It honors and honours the single most screaming screen siren of the decade, Eva Green as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale.

Troy Patterson is the television critic at Slate and the film critic at Spin. Bonus: Here is his roundup of the 26 best cultural moments of the 00s!