Thread by @davidfrum

I don't think everyone realizes that the phrase "Roaring Twenties" - referring to the decade of the 1920s - was not coined entirely as a compliment. 1/x

The phrase "Roaring Twenties" was derived from the "Roaring Forties," the very powerful westerly winds that blow between 40 and 50 degrees latitude in the southern hemisphere. The Roaring Forties could hugely speed sailing ships - but also swamp and sink them. 2/x

Whoever borrowed the adjective "roaring" for the decade of the 1920s didn't mean to say that the decade was serenely prosperous, but that it was wild, nerve-wracking, and dangerous, like the far south seas below Australia. 3/x

Hence the many premonitions of doom that fill the pages of eg The Great Gatsby, that brilliant novel of the period. The era's famous dance marathons seemed symbolic: frenzy leading sooner or later to inevitable collapse. 4/x

That's not what we want from our new decade! So nix talk of a "second roaring twenties." If the decade ahead delivers enduring prosperity and peace after the pandemic and the moral disaster of Trump, the 2020s will deserve a happier nickname all of their very own. END

PS I wrote in @TheAtlantic in 2014 about *why* the 1920s seemed so doom-haunted even at the time theatlantic.com/international/…