"The Noughties"?

[Carol]

montims wrote:
> 
> My two pennorth: Noughty IS a homonym of naughty, which is the
punning aspect of it, but it is pronounced norty in both cases (well,
fellow Brits - not quite, but good enough for the purposes of this
discussion...)  Just don't stress the r...    It is, of course,
derived from "nought", meaning nothing, and now I have it - that
rhymes with thought.  For example, how would you pronounce
Dreadnought?  In Yorkshire where I lived for a few years, the word
would be pronounced, and spelt, nowt...
> 
Carol:
Well, as an American, I seldom use either "nought" (zero or nothing)
oar "naught" (nothing), but I would pronounce both of them exactly as
I pronounce "not" and "knot." (and, yes, they rhyme with
"thought"--and "hot," for that matter). Simplicity, you know. The
fewer pronunciations, the better. <grin>

montims:
> Back to an old hairy/harry pronunciation controversy - How do you
say Bill Haley, and Halle Berry?  I heard both these names spoken on
tv recently, and had the aha moment - change the l for an r (like
those old bad Chinese impersonations) and you have the pronunciation
of Hairy and Harry.  Dadah!

Carol:
"Haley" has a long "a" (as in "Kate" )and "Halle" a short "a" as in
"cat." Neither of them has quite the same sound as an "a" preceding an
"r" (setting aside words like "car," in which the "a" has more of an 
"ah" sound). For me, "hairy" and Harry" are homonyms and rhyme with
"Berry." ("Merry," "marry," and "Mary" are also all homonyms.)

Carol, who associates "nowt" with the Gaffer in LOTR
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