Closing out the '90s; ringing in The Unies

by Neil White

Who says today's college students have absolutely no initiative? OK, we do, but that's completely beside the point.

Then there's USC advertising student Ryan Guerra. He has taken it upon himself to invent a name for the first decade of the new millennium, since there's o accepted shorthand way to characterize it, such as we currently do with the '90s.

Guerra's suggestion?

The Unies. 

That's his way to group the numbers between 0-9, which he claims to have hit upon after much trial and error.

(Apparently, he rejected Jethro Bodine's suggestion of The Naughts.)

Now, he's doing his best to publicize his creation. He has a Web site (www.theunies.com).

He's handing out new releases. He's even selling shirts with logos of The Unies, which, for all of you folks dying to know how to pronounce it so you can begin slipping it into converstion, rhymes with "loonies."

Guerra told us he has gotten used to people treating him like he's wacky for his persistence in pushing this concept. But he doesn't care. In fact, he's certain The Unies can become part of the pop culture lingo, with national recognition sure to follow.

He also envisions it catching on in other ways, such as parents saying their kids are in their unies or meteorologists saying the temperature has dipped into the unies.

"This is a great moment for me. I am making history," he quotes himself on his Web site. "I have always been waiting for an opportunity like this."

(With a modest outlook like that, we're a little surprised he didn't just name the decade "The Guerra's.")

Personally, we prefer The Naughts. But then, like Jethro, we have an IQ in the unies.