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The US Tendency to Put the Month Before the Day/Date

posted a year ago by HarveyManFredSin (4877)
58 replies | jump to latest

Sorry, but it's really annoying.

The European practice of putting the date/day before the month (i.e. 11 September 2001, or 11/09/2001) makes far more sense (i.e. place the more specific/smaller unit of time, the day, and increasingly get larger, and less specific, as one moves from left to right), and when doing a search on a Microsoft Word program, it's much more helpful if one wants to find out what was happening during a particular month (i.e. I can search 09/2001 or 09/01; I can't do that so easily if the day is between the month and the year).

Can anyone explain to me why the Americans do this?

[–] Moviefan3765 (168) a year ago

When asked what tomorrow is no one says 7th June, they say June 7th so it's 6/7/2023.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

Maybe in the US. Elsewhere, we *do* say "7th June".

[–] 102000 (6253) a year ago

I like it the way it is. My B'Day is July, 11th or 7/11 - a great lucky number that isn't quite the same as 11/7.

[–] Moonglum9 (11275) a year ago

And just try getting a Big Gulp from 11-7!

[–] parkerbot (9094) a year ago

If the story is good, I don't care if the action star packing a gun is packing.

Although, I have no desire to see women get beat up, men, sure, but not women.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

I agree, but I think you may have posted in the wrong thread...

[–] parkerbot (9094) a year ago

A mistake? Never!

Maybe. Probably.

[–] vranger (444) a year ago

The month is the most important unit, so it goes first. The year is most important in many cases, but since most date usage involves current or recent activities, it's not needed and goes last. In writing software, of course I store and calculate dates, for sorting purposes, as Year-Month-Day. Guess what, the month STILL comes before the day. ;-)

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

Year-Month-Day is fine for logging and sorting purposes. *SO* is Day-Month-Year.

What *doesn't* work is Month-Day-Year.

[–] vranger (444) a year ago

It's worked fine for many nations and countless millions who are completely unconcerned that people like you get confused by something that simple and waste your time wringing your panties over it. LOL

ETA: No. Day-Month-Year does NOT work for sorting purposes. Sheesh.

[–] jk90us (7205) a year ago

No. US format makes more sense. Signify the month first. Then day. It’s like signifying a building and then the room.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

Yeah, and then the city at the end... 🤦‍♂️🙄

[–] AndyKing1967 (38140) a year ago

[deleted]

[–] Daft_Munks (4655) a year ago

I agree

[–] TrentnQuarantino (9187) a year ago

I'll have to disagree with that.

YEAR-MONTH-DATE makes the most sense because you can sort a lot easier that way and never confuse month and day.

2023-06-08
2023-06-07
2023-06-06
2023-06-05
2023-06-04