US military speaks 17 December. We citizens of the US say the month first because then it is clear we are talking about a date. Starting with the number of the day of the month is slower to understand because we use numbers for so many other things.
Why do Americans put the date the wrong way around?
- Thread starter Norm
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Lightning Bub
Newly Enlightened
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- Dec 5, 2013
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Because we Yanks do things the right way and refuse to stick with tradition for the sake of sticking with tradition. We're innovators. It's the reason that a 235 year old country is responsible for the majority of technology in the past 100 years. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way! ;-)
Lou Minescence
Flashlight Enthusiast
Australia is on the other side of the world from the US. Therefore you are looking at the date backwards from us or we are looking at it backwards from you. It's all the same.
skyfire
Flashlight Enthusiast
never thought about it. and now that i am. i cant understand it. writing the day first makes so much more sense. saying 17th of december, as opposed to december 17th is clearer with less confusion.
same can be said as to why america has not switch to the metric system... i hate using "standard" wrenches and sockets. and i hate having to buy 2 sets of tools.
same can be said as to why america has not switch to the metric system... i hate using "standard" wrenches and sockets. and i hate having to buy 2 sets of tools.
That's a whole new topic, feel free to chip in on the metrics system if you wish, this is the off topic area, :devil:
Norm
Is hubris a sign of decline? Look where SO many of these cutting edge flashlights are coming from. The World is here to stay, and is more and more realizing they don't have to be an 'also ran'.
If the day of the month is twelve or less, I would like to try to abbreviate the month to avoid confusion with military and international folks.
If the day of the month is twelve or less, I would like to try to abbreviate the month to avoid confusion with military and international folks.
Lightning Bub
Newly Enlightened
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I drive a Korean car (Hyundai Genesis Coupe) and refuse to invest in SAE wrenches and sockets. If a metric wrench or socket won't fit, then it isn't getting loosened.
As far as WiFi being an Australian invention, I had no idea!
I thought Australians were more into sport and good times than cutting edge technology (unless it is a sport toy)
I received a good imperial socket set as a 21st present from my Dad (the only gift from my 21st I can still remember) when Metric became more common here I complimented the existing sockets with a set of Metrinch sockets, I've often removed bolts that had been rounded using these.
Norm
thedoc007
Flashlight Enthusiast
I cringed when I saw this. Clearly, we didn't learn much from the Y2K (non)crisis. More than anything, regardless of whether the month or day (or year) is first, we need to adopt a STANDARD length. Month is two digits, day is two digits, year is four digits, and preferably with a divider. (/ or . or - or whatever, just something to set it apart.) As least then we have some idea that we might be looking at a date. 131217 could be anything...not instantly recognizable as a date, nor is the format clear. That could be a random number, or December 13, 2017, or the intended December 17, 2013. The worst of all possible options, in my opinion.
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Well now I thought someone would call me on the narrow minded comment above. Just goes to show you how friendly so many Australians are. That's what my father said after visiting there years ago.
Lampbeam
Newly Enlightened
Good thing I'm not in charge of how we express the date. Because I would go by the number of years since the formation of the world which would be 4,500,002,013 followed by the month, followed by the day. So the date would be 45000020131217. And let's use dashes instead of slashes. 4500002013-12-17. Oh, that's nice. Everybody agreed?
skyfire
Flashlight Enthusiast
the standard sets are for work, while the metric sets are for the garage. those standard sets might actually come in handy, since my next vehicle is going to be a truck. not sure which yet though... my choices are rather limited here....
heres a question for you, Norm. are small pick-up trucks still available in your part of the world? here in the states, we have large, and larger trucks. i miss those little 4-cylinder pick-ups.
back on topic... from now on im going to try and date in the format of 17DEC2013. or at least try and get myself used to it.
Here in America, metric sized ball bearings are more expensive than inch sized.
The beginning of Existence: 13 something billion years ago?
The beginning of Existence: 13 something billion years ago?
idleprocess
Flashaholic
The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from...
Yes, some sort of ascending or descending order makes the most sense, but once some sort of standard catches on it's hard to dislodge.
Personally, I prefer YYYYMMDD since that's how numbers are expressed - most significant digit first.
Perhaps we can make a deal. The US will use a coherent date standard (YYYY/MM/DD or DD/MM/YYYY) if the rest of the world will stop using commas as the decimal separator since it breaks the analogy to how language is expressed... drives me up the wall along with abuses of engineering notation (I've seen nonsense like 0.1kV ... really?).
Yes, some sort of ascending or descending order makes the most sense, but once some sort of standard catches on it's hard to dislodge.
Personally, I prefer YYYYMMDD since that's how numbers are expressed - most significant digit first.
Perhaps we can make a deal. The US will use a coherent date standard (YYYY/MM/DD or DD/MM/YYYY) if the rest of the world will stop using commas as the decimal separator since it breaks the analogy to how language is expressed... drives me up the wall along with abuses of engineering notation (I've seen nonsense like 0.1kV ... really?).
idleprocess
Flashaholic
There are countless standards based around imperial measurements ... 16ga wire, 18ga sheet steel, 1/2" plywood (or rather the more inane 15*32"), and bulk chemicals sold by the 55 gallon drum. These are slowly changing with the availability of 1.29mm wire, 1.2mm steel sheet, 12mm plywood, and the relative ease of hand-waving 55 gallons as 208 liters (you're going to use liters/kg for the chemistry anyway).
But yes, metric components are harder to find and more expensive than imperial components in the US - especially at the consumer level. At the wholesale level this is less of an issue, but the components may still be more expensive due to lower volume.
Most of the Japanese makers have a smaller four cylinder pick up or as they're more commonly called here utes.
In most of the world 55 Gallons = 250.035 Litres
. The imperial (UK) gallon, defined as exactly 4.54609 litres, The US gallon, is equal to 3.785411784 litres.Comparison of the Imperial and US customary systems
Ain't we havin' fun? :huh:
Norm
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Loool, a good question We also prefer Day.Month.Year.
Whenever I buy some new device with pre-set date and time or when I receive some automatic message, I always wonder if they mean 5th day, 8th month or 5th month, 8th day ... lol. Until I set everything myself.
We also prefer Day.Month.Year.Whenever I buy some new device with pre-set date and time or when I receive some automatic message, I always wonder if they mean 5th day, 8th month or 5th month, 8th day ... lol. Until I set everything myself.
Occasionally I run into software where the developer has forgotten the rest of the world exists and has hard coded something to need MM/DD/YY... And I have to change the entire OS to use that to make it work.
As far as the notations being related to how the date is spoken, if you ask me what today is, I'd say "the seventeenth of December". It works both ways. The notation affects the speech which affects the notation.
As far as the notations being related to how the date is spoken, if you ask me what today is, I'd say "the seventeenth of December". It works both ways. The notation affects the speech which affects the notation.
