Boring question - date conventions

Maybe for the same reasons we drive on the other side of the road, our cars have hoods and trunks not bonnets and boots and our race tracks -be it horses or cars- run counter-clockwise.

There are probably thousands of things we do or say differently from our dear cousins across the pond.

 

'Cause that's the way it's always been done!!!!

 

In addition the following illustrates the logical(?) history of many parameters that we now essentially have no idea of the origin.

Interesting, but scary at the same time!!!

 

The fourth of July fits better in song and poetry........We tend to write month-day-year in Canada as well. It is bank policy and I suppose we tend to follow the bank on this one.

Cheers,

Jim

 

I don't care how they put it. Just make sure I get paid every other Friday.

 

I presume we write 09/23/05 because it follows how we would say it: "September (9) 23rd, 2005."

Why not ask something more important, such as why we boil our tea to make it hot, ice it to make it cold, add sugar to make it sweet and lemon to make it sour?

 

July 3, 1776!!!!!

Hey, just a joke there, ole Chap!!! A few of us preacher boys toured the UK last year---while at Gatewick--we were presenting our passports---and the Customs agent was there

"You from the United States??"

"Sure am!!"

"Well, then!!! Welcome home, Chap!!!"

 

I think you're on to something there. The Declaration of Independence reads "July 4th, 1776", and it was written by mostly by persons of English (and a few German) gentility. I suppose that has a lot to do with why we use the date convention that we do.

 

Way too much information about time notation standards <<<--link here

 

I just looked at my discharge from the Coast Guard. The date is listed as 87 MAR 25. That's year/month/day

The date the form was accepted for use by millitary is 1 JUL 79. That's day/month/year.

We can't seem to be consistent one the same form.

 

I like the YYYY-M-D format the best as it is so computer compatible.

Posted.

200509240533GMT

Matt's issue does cause a lot of confusion for travellers, or for those who do business on both signs of the Pond.

 

Reminds me of the joke asking if there is a Fourth of July in England. The answer? Of course there is, it is just not Independence Day.

Wasn't it Sir Winston Churchill who said the US and Britain were two countries separated by a common language?

And what about that thing with the 26th letter of the alphabet. Zee, Zed, Izzard?

 

Question: why do Americans write the date as Month-day-year?

I don't know but I know the US military in all its wisdom, tends to use day/month/year, as in 4 OCT 05, with the exception of, in the case of the Navy, performance evals that are year/month/day (e.g., 05MAY23). Go figure.


Matt Black,

Supplementary question: why do Americans say "9/11" but also say "The Fourth of July" rather than "July 4(th)"?

I couldn't resist because it bothers me, that Americans refer to it as the Fourth of July rather than Independence Day.

 

More efficient for sorting if they used year month day.

But I suppose that saying the same year "a lot" got them to the shorter form of month/day. It sorts within the year - but not across years.


Just a guess.