The words "nineteen-hundreds" to me mean strictly 1900–1909. I've noticed several times that people, invariably North American, use these words to mean "the twentieth century", or 1900–1999, or something like that. Similarly for "the eighteen hundreds" used to mean "the nineteenth century" and so on.
Is this an example of a misuse of words by people who have heard and then misunderstood them, or is this actually an established usage in America? Secondly, if it is not a misuse, how would said Americans refer to the period of 1900–1909?
Best Answer
Although people do use it mean 1900–1909, it isn't a misuse to use it to mean 1900–1999. Another way to refer to the first decade would be "just after the turn of the century", or "at the turn of the century". I would say 1920s to mean 1920–1929 though.
If you do a corpus query (COCA) you'll find that 1900s is almost always preceded by early. (121 times out of 149 hits). This qualification leads me to think that most authors think that the 1900s is a large time frame, that benefits from further qualification. Furthermore, in many cases the context shows that "early 1900s" refers to years outside of 1900–1909.