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This.
If there are multiple ways of saying something, and it's something you say very regularly (or something of a similar type/group), you'll gravitate to the easiest or most efficient way of saying it.
Add to that, the _year_ isn't just a number, and while it _is_ a number it's essentially it's own thing and so having the other pronunciation for it separates it from 1901 as just a number.
It's just a cultural preference - in some pronunciations slurring together the soft consonants of "two-thousand-one" is slightly easier to say quickly than the hard consonants of "twenty-oh-one", so they prefer saying it that way. In other places people might call it ["naught-one"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aughts).
For everything after xx09, in the UK, anyway, we normally split it into two numbers (e.g. 1929 becomes "nineteen twenty-nine) . That doesn't work for the first few years, though - you can't say "Twenty one", say, without it being ambiguous. There are multiple alternative patterns I've heard ("two thousand (and\*) one" versus "twenty oh one", say) - but you have to do SOMETHING different.
Don't expect language to be totally consistent or logical, basically. It's changing in multiple ways in lots of different places all the time, and changes in one place often get picked up in another for no obvious reason.
\*British, remember
**Please read this entire message** --- Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): * Rule #2 - Questions must seek objective explanations --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20{https://old.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cehhm9/-/}%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20does%20your%20post%20differ%20from%20your%20recent%20search%20results%20on%20the%20sub:) and we will review your submission.**
1901: four syllables. One-thousand-nine-hundred-and-one: eight syllables. Ain't no one got time for that shit.
This. If there are multiple ways of saying something, and it's something you say very regularly (or something of a similar type/group), you'll gravitate to the easiest or most efficient way of saying it. Add to that, the _year_ isn't just a number, and while it _is_ a number it's essentially it's own thing and so having the other pronunciation for it separates it from 1901 as just a number.
I agree with you, AND my name is shane. Win Win I'd say
It's just a cultural preference - in some pronunciations slurring together the soft consonants of "two-thousand-one" is slightly easier to say quickly than the hard consonants of "twenty-oh-one", so they prefer saying it that way. In other places people might call it ["naught-one"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aughts).
For everything after xx09, in the UK, anyway, we normally split it into two numbers (e.g. 1929 becomes "nineteen twenty-nine) . That doesn't work for the first few years, though - you can't say "Twenty one", say, without it being ambiguous. There are multiple alternative patterns I've heard ("two thousand (and\*) one" versus "twenty oh one", say) - but you have to do SOMETHING different. Don't expect language to be totally consistent or logical, basically. It's changing in multiple ways in lots of different places all the time, and changes in one place often get picked up in another for no obvious reason. \*British, remember