Why do Americans want to know the month first and the day second?
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.
What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?
EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:
- I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
- I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
- I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
- This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.
So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Linguistics
In UK English, it's considered proper to write "the 6th of March" as "6 March" and sometimes read as "6th March" which can be jarring to Americans as their shorthand is "March 6th" and when "6(th) March" is encountered in written form, it's expanded to the full "6th of March" when spoken
That doesn't mean this won't be yet another feature American English absorbs from UK English but right now flipping them in speech requires a few extra syllables and people are lazy
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Why do you care? There are so many other cultural differences to highlight, history and music and art that only exist overseas, hundreds of millions of people with the same dreams and ambitions you have. Why on earth would you focus on something so trivial?
... Curiosity? Some interesting things are hidden in the most trivial information.
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Linguistics
In UK English, it's considered proper to write "the 6th of March" as "6 March" and sometimes read as "6th March" which can be jarring to Americans as their shorthand is "March 6th" and when "6(th) March" is encountered in written form, it's expanded to the full "6th of March" when spoken
That doesn't mean this won't be yet another feature American English absorbs from UK English but right now flipping them in speech requires a few extra syllables and people are lazy
people are lazy
Kinda relatable ngl
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ISO 8601 rules!
RFC 3339 is where it's at
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.
What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?
EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:
- I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
- I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
- I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
- This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.
So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.
Anyone who doesn't use ISO 8601 is wrong.
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Anyone who doesn't use ISO 8601 is wrong.
FACTS
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Perhaps because where I live there are no seasons in the same way as in the United States, knowing the month doesn't matter to us unless we work in the fields, here there are only months of sun and months of rain.
Sure, but if I tell you the month, you still know what part of the year it is. If it's sunny, or if it's rainy must mean something to you.
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Sure, but if I tell you the month, you still know what part of the year it is. If it's sunny, or if it's rainy must mean something to you.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Mmm not so much. I prefer to know on the first day so, for example, how close I am to payday, which is every two weeks. I don't care that much about months other than December since I finished college.
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.
What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?
EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:
- I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
- I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
- I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
- This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.
So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.
What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?
EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:
- I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
- I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
- I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
- This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.
So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]deleted by creator
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Perhaps because where I live there are no seasons in the same way as in the United States, knowing the month doesn't matter to us unless we work in the fields, here there are only months of sun and months of rain.
Yeah that makes sense then. I live in Minnesota and the seasons definitely matter here. Every 3 months will be a completely different drastic changes to temperature, weather, etc. So for planning, the month definitely matters and I think it makes more sense for us to say it first.
Not that it really matters that much haha.
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I think of it as, if you got shot halfway through telling me the date of something, "December" on its own is more useful information than "12". Technically, "12" narrows it down to fewer possible dates, but it could be at any time of year, while December only happens once a year, in March or whatever.
That explains it, getting shot halfway through a sentence is far less likely outside America.
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.
What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?
EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:
- I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
- I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
- I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
- This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.
So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]All display of time should follow this format:
Chronon.PlanckTime.Yottayear.Zettayear.Exayear.Petayear.Terayear.Gigayear.Megayear.Kiloyear.CosmicAge.GalacticYear.Epoch.Eon.YourMom.Era.Aeon.Megaannum.Millennium.Century.Decade.Year.Month.Day.Hour.Minute.Second
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.
What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?
EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:
- I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
- I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
- I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
- This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.
So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Every digital clock displays hours:minutes:seconds. Largest to smallest. I see no reason not to follow the same pattern with the date year/month/day.
This is also how my phone time stamps a photo - year/month/day/hours/minutes/seconds.
This seems very logical to me.
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deleted by creator
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I mean that also makes sense, year-month-day. The other way of course is day-month-year, also logical, those two are in ascending or descending order.
And then there is the American month-day-year.
🫠
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.
What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?
EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:
- I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
- I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
- I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
- This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.
So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.
I was taught DD/MM/YY and that's what I use in typed form, but I prefer MM/DD/YYYY, at least in speech e.g. 'June 13th 2025'. It feels cleaner to narrow by month, then day, otherwise you're mentally having to wait for context, working backwards. The year is almost irrelevant as it changes so infrequently, about once a year.
ISO 8601 for organising on a computer, as sorting by largest to smallest is the most logical.
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I mean that also makes sense, year-month-day. The other way of course is day-month-year, also logical, those two are in ascending or descending order.
And then there is the American month-day-year.
🫠
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Edit: Actually nvm, I'm just having a wild speculation. I have no idea why people use this date format.
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I think its more like... Imagine conversations going like this:
"When did the moon landing happen again? I forgot."
"July 20th"
"When? Last year?"
"No, two years ago, 1969."
July 20th, 1969
That's how this date format came to be. At least that's what I assume.
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Every digital clock displays hours:minutes:seconds. Largest to smallest. I see no reason not to follow the same pattern with the date year/month/day.
This is also how my phone time stamps a photo - year/month/day/hours/minutes/seconds.
This seems very logical to me.
We read left to right.
Hour left makes sense as hour is very important to know, many times for important than the minutes.
With dates year is usually not that important to know, and day/month became much more important to know in a daily basis. So they get a preference.
For instance, a doctor gives you an appointment on 2025-07-25. The first thing you read is 2025, which os not very important as the day and month, as you could already assume the day. A date on 25-07-2025 gives you important information sooner.
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I was taught DD/MM/YY and that's what I use in typed form, but I prefer MM/DD/YYYY, at least in speech e.g. 'June 13th 2025'. It feels cleaner to narrow by month, then day, otherwise you're mentally having to wait for context, working backwards. The year is almost irrelevant as it changes so infrequently, about once a year.
ISO 8601 for organising on a computer, as sorting by largest to smallest is the most logical.
I completely agree with you.
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Every digital clock displays hours:minutes:seconds. Largest to smallest. I see no reason not to follow the same pattern with the date year/month/day.
This is also how my phone time stamps a photo - year/month/day/hours/minutes/seconds.
This seems very logical to me.
Everybody says this, but I keep seeing mm/dd/yyyy from north American sources, and dd/mm/yyyy from pretty much everywhere else.
Why are we stupid
