# a dating question **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 14, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346 "2001-11-14T17:20:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![illuminati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@illuminati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/illuminati)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/1 "2001-11-14T17:20:20Z")
So why do Americans (and possibly others) have their date reading month/day/year? In England, and I guess most of the world(?), the date is writen day/month/year. In order of importance i spose. So Anyone know why this is so? And more importantly why does it bother me so?? ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/2 "2001-11-14T17:41:26Z")
It is for the same reason that we use inches and feet instead of the metric system… because everyone knows that we are better then everyone else 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fredge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Fredge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fredge)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/3 "2001-11-14T17:48:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by illuminati \* > \*\*So why do Americans (and possibly others) have their date reading month/day/year? > > In England, and I guess most of the world(?), the date is writen day/month/year. In order of importance i spose. > \*\* How do the English (and others) respond when they are asked the date? Do they say “Fourteen November, Two Thousand One”? Here in the U.S. one would say “November Fourteenth, Two Thousand One”. Since we say the month first in full sentences, it makes sense to me that we enumerate it the same way (11/14/2001). ---
**Author:** ![VenusProbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e495f1/32.png) [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/4 "2001-11-14T17:56:31Z")
I think it should be “YYYY:MM:DD:HH:MM:SS.nn”. My not so humble opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Oicu812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f475e1/32.png) [@Oicu812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oicu812)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/5 "2001-11-14T18:06:19Z")
Not all do. In the military, it was in this style: 14NOV01 ---
**Author:** ![VenusProbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e495f1/32.png) [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/6 "2001-11-14T18:08:02Z")
Aarrggghhhh bitten by vB code! That should be **"YYYY:MM:DD:HH:MM:SS.nn"** ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/7 "2001-11-14T18:26:43Z")
Personally I don’t mind either way. If you give American dating a chance though, it’s not unlikely that you find one particular date you really enjoy. Maybe you’ll keep coming back to that same date, over and over, writing it everywhere you go, thinking about it constantly. Soon, you’ll be committed, ready to stick happily by that date 'til the day you die. Forever after you will remember, lest you forget and find yourself thrown out into the street and sleeping in a gutter. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/8 "2001-11-14T18:33:37Z")
Funny, when I was in teh military, I picked up writting the date as YYMMDD, e.g., 011113 is today, though I do recall seeing it writting the way **Oicu812** details. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/9 "2001-11-14T18:46:43Z")
I do the YYMMDD dating too whenever possible. For example, I organize my computer files this way so that if I have a number of files with similar titles, they will be in date order and it will be easier to find what I am looking for. A typical file name might be: 011113 Lecture Notes. ---
**Author:** ![ObiWan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47774/32.png) [@ObiWan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ObiWan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/10 "2001-11-14T21:06:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fredge \* > How do the English (and others) respond when they are asked the date? Do they say “Fourteen November, Two Thousand One”? No, this would be very rarely used. “The Fourteenth _of_ November, Two Thousand _and_ One” or “November _the_ Fourteenth, Two Thousand _and_ One” would be more likely responses. ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/11 "2001-11-14T22:21:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ObiWan \* > \*\*“The Fourteenth _of_ November, Two Thousand _and_ One” or “November _the_ Fourteenth, Two Thousand _and_ One” would be more likely responses. \*\* As long as we’re picking nits, “and” indicates a decimal point in speech, at least here in the US. (i.e., nine thousand two hundred fifty-six **and** twenty-five hundredths) Therefore, “Two thousand one” would be considered the correct usage here. Note that we lazy (or efficient, depending on POV) Americans for better or worse have shortened the phrase, “The Fourteenth of November” to “November Fourteenth”, thus saving us two words. Maybe it’s for economy, or maybe it’s just because we is just so durn stupid that we’d forget what we was sayin’ otherwise. 😛 Perhaps the Mods might move the thread to GQ, as you might get better answers in the more serious forum… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/12 "2001-11-14T23:52:04Z")
Let me take a stab at it: “It is well known that currently dates (in the Gregorian calendar) are expressed in several different ways in various countries. For example what the British write as “8/3/96” the Americans write as “3/8/96” and the Swiss as “8.3.96” or “08.03.96”. As daily life becomes more internationalized (and web users quickly note that information is available from all parts of the globe) one may find oneself reading documents in which different date formats are used even though the documents are in the same language. When one reads that something occurred on “3/8/96” one may be left wondering whether it occurred in March or in August. Life would be slightly easier if dates were expressed in a common format.” [http://serendipity.magnet.ch/hermetic/cal\_stud/formats.htm](http://serendipity.magnet.ch/hermetic/cal_stud/formats.htm) Try reading that page, my head is just dizzy trying to figure out the date formats we use which are major complicated 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ObiWan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47774/32.png) [@ObiWan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ObiWan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/13 "2001-11-15T10:42:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mrblue92 \* > > …“and” indicates a decimal point in speech, at least here in the US. (i.e., nine thousand two hundred fifty-six **and** twenty-five hundredths). Just for the sake of completeness, in the UK this would most likely be: [ul][li]nine thousand, two hundred and fifty six _point_ two five, ornine thousand, two hundred and fifty six and a quarter. [/li][/ul] I only consider using the latter form for simple fractions (i.e with a denominator less than 10 - even us Brits wouldn’t say nine thousand, two hundred and fifty six and thirty one fifty eights :)). However, it is not quite as simple as that. When refering to someone’s age I would say “they are six and a half” and would never use “the are six _point_ five”. On a related note, we have the great Stanley Kubrick and NASA to thank for the way we say [2001](http://www.thompson-law.com/january01.htm). > [@](#): > > Frederick Ordway, one of several NASA scientists whom the director > consulted, says, “Stanley asked me if we should say “two thousand and one” > or “twenty-oh-one” like we say “nineteen-oh-one.” And we decided that “two thousand and one” sounded better. We often wondered among ourselves whether the fact that the film was called “two thousand and one” would have an influence on > the English language when we got to the twenty-first century.” Cecil also mentions it briefly in [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_263b.html) column. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/14 "2001-11-15T11:04:17Z")
Here in merry ol’ Sweden the standard way of writing the date is YYYY-MM-DD. I guess soemone planned things correctly a long time ago. I’ve only lived here for a coupel of years - are there any Swedes out there who can say how long you have been writing the date like this for? Was it since you brought in the personnummer? ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/15 "2001-11-15T12:32:47Z")
I think it’s because of the way we say dates - today’s date is November 15th, 2001, and that’s how I write it. I think putting the month first also makes organization of files easier. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-dating-question/93346/16 "2001-11-15T14:21:13Z")
Truth is: We do it just to be different. 😃