# Attention European Embassies in America: Use American Style Dating on Your Official Notices! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945 "2012-09-07T02:49:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/121 "2012-09-19T20:48:32Z")
Are you looking for the word “shibboleth”? ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/122 "2012-09-20T12:42:47Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Are you looking for the word “shibboleth”? Apparently, without knowing so, I was. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/123 "2012-09-20T12:57:06Z")
There was a member here by that name. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/124 "2012-09-20T13:36:36Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > There was a member here by that name. [Still is, unless something terrible happened since 7:55 this morning.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/125 "2012-09-21T00:49:36Z")
funny… Days have names but there are only seven names for up to 31 dates…months have names of all 12 and numbered accordingly. Years are just numbers with no names whatsoever. So, it should be… Day Number/Month Name/Year Number or Month Name/ Day Number/ Year Number. They could even Hyphenate the Month names down to 2 letters… Ja, Fe, Mr, Ap, My, Jn, Jy, Au, Se, Oc, No, De No more confusion…see? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/126 "2012-09-21T00:55:54Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Whoa, calm down. It’s not that I think children of German immigrants are ‘not worthy’ of their cultural heritage. But that’s all it is, heritage – they are not German. > > Just like if an American moves to England and has kids, those kids (and certainly any grandkids) are not in any meaningful sense American - they are British. > > pdts You’re getting into some murky waters now, especially since according to the German government those kids who have never set foot in Germany ARE citizens of Germany. The American’s kids would also be considered citizens by the US government, no on the grandkids assuming the parents spent no time in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/127 "2012-09-21T13:25:50Z")
Only if they were registered as such at the US consulate. They have the right to citizenship; they’re not automatically citizens. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/128 "2012-09-21T17:09:04Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Whoa, calm down. It’s not that I think children of German immigrants are ‘not worthy’ of their cultural heritage. But that’s all it is, heritage – they are not German. > > Just like if an American moves to England and has kids, those kids (and certainly any grandkids) are not in any meaningful sense American - they are British. > > pdts I disagree, at least potentially. I am an American who moved to Germany after marrying a German and then had two children here. My kids are both German and American. They have two passports each. We speak English in the home and we travel to America as a family at least once a year. My children are technically, legally, and meaningfully Americans, and anyone who think otherwise will be the sad recipient of the stinkeye from me. Now, in different circumstances and with different conditions, I could picture that the children born to at least one parent who was born elsewhere are fully of the culture and country of their own birth and not of the culture and country of their parent. But that doesn’t apply to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/129 "2012-09-21T17:10:56Z")
Are you planning on moving back to the states? Have your kids ever resided in the US? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/130 "2012-09-21T22:30:53Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > Now, in different circumstances and with different conditions, I could picture that the children born to at least one parent who was born elsewhere are fully of the culture and country of their own birth and not of the culture and country of their parent. But that doesn’t apply to everyone. My son has never set foot in the USA, however he speaks what little he does in a US accent and no one who sees him assumes or speaks of him as a local, he is intrinsically foreign because of his skin tone they just don’t know what country(yea I don’t like it but what are you gonna do). Think of people born in the US to foreign parents who because of their race are always asked where they are really from. “Where are you from?” “Sacramento” “No where are you REALLY from?” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/131 "2012-09-21T22:48:18Z")
For the love of God, just don’t be the guy who decides to be uselessly forward-looking and add extra digits, making it YYYYYY. It’s _not_ Y’s beyond your years! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/132 "2012-09-22T00:53:03Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Indeed. YYYY-MM-DD, I refuse to use anything else. Easily machine sortable too. > > Luckily Sweden pretty much uses it all the time, although you see the occasional old-style DD/MM - YYYY. > > I always find it amusing that the usual reason for the US using MM-DD-YYYY is that that is how they say the date (“September 7, 2012”) and yet the US national day is always referred to in the international way (“The fourth of July”). mm-dd-yyyy sorted correctly in a spreadsheet; dd mm yyyy did not. That is why people who dealt with lots of dated records did not want to change. yyyy-mm-dd sorts correctly in every format and application, but civilians do not like. I like it a lot, because it is completely different and unambiguous, as well as language independent. But dd MMM yyyy is unambigous, and most people can figure out the MMM no matter what European based language is used. People will use this format, but businesses will gradually switch to yyyy-mm-dd for all international applications. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/133 "2012-09-22T17:07:54Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > I disagree, at least potentially. I am an American who moved to Germany after marrying a German and then had two children here. My kids are both German and American. They have two passports each. We speak English in the home and we travel to America as a family at least once a year. My children are technically, legally, and meaningfully Americans, and anyone who think otherwise will be the sad recipient of the stinkeye from me. > > Now, in different circumstances and with different conditions, I could picture that the children born to at least one parent who was born elsewhere are fully of the culture and country of their own birth and not of the culture and country of their parent. But that doesn’t apply to everyone. But what if your children went on horrendous racist anti-American rants, and justified them by saying “it’s ok, I’m American”? I wouldn’t call your kids American (based on what you’ve said). They’re half-American. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/134 "2012-09-22T19:16:50Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > > [@septimus](#): > > > > This debate is still going on? Check this out: [“It was the third of September.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s3SNHIH0bs) Those are Americans speaking! > > > > (Some will contend this was an aberration due to poetic license, but that claim holds no water. With such a license the date itself could have been changed to yield, e.g., _It was August the ei-eight. I shan’t forget that da..ate._) > > I don’t understand your point. There’s nothing uncommon, unusual, or remarkable about “the third of September.” That’s irrelevant to the question of what “3/9” means to an American. Sorry, mine was intended _purely_ for humor. BTW, may I hijack this thread to request that if _any_ Doper _ever_ gets a chuckle from any of my “jokes,” _please_ Click Quote and send me a " 🙂 " ? I’m beginning to worry I need psychotherapy for my perverted sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/135 "2012-09-23T13:46:13Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’m beginning to worry I need psychotherapy for my perverted sense of humor. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/136 "2012-09-23T14:31:03Z")
> [@grude](#): > > My son has never set foot in the USA, however he speaks what little he does in a US accent and no one who sees him assumes or speaks of him as a local, he is intrinsically foreign because of his skin tone they just don’t know what country(yea I don’t like it but what are you gonna do). > > Think of people born in the US to foreign parents who because of their race are always asked where they are really from. > > “Where are you from?” > > “Sacramento” > > “No where are you REALLY from?” Not even foreign parents… 6th-generation American parents, but “the wrong color”, for several friends of mine. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/137 "2012-09-23T15:20:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Are you planning on moving back to the states? Have your kids ever resided in the US? We have kept it as an open possibility since the beginning of our marriage. Now that the kids are 12 and 15, we’re not planning on moving in the next years so that they can finish their secondary education here. But the day after my daughter gets her Abitur, I am so going to start spending more of each year in the States. My kids have never resided in the US, but we’ve spent 3-6 weeks a year there since they were born. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > For the love of God, just don’t be the guy who decides to be uselessly forward-looking and add extra digits, making it YYYYYY. > It’s _not_ Y’s beyond your years! This made me giggle like a loon. > [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > But what if your children went on horrendous racist anti-American rants, and justified them by saying “it’s ok, I’m American”? > > I wouldn’t call your kids American (based on what you’ve said). They’re half-American. What? Why on earth would they do something that silly? If they did, I’d give them a sharp lecture and the same stinkeye I will now focus on you. Half-American? Excuse me? What exactly is a half-American? ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/138 "2012-09-23T16:05:38Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > My mom is 86 years old, and she gets a monthly pension from Germany. Not a lot, about $100 a month, but every bit helps. > > Anyway, she has to show up every year at the German Counsulate to prove she’s alive so they won’t cancel the pension. On the notice that they sent her, it said the deadline was 10/08/2012. So, we showed up in late August. > > Now, getting my mom out of the house and into the car, going downtown and into the Consulate is quite a chore. Mom suffered a stroke some years ago, and has mobility issues. You’re all missing the fucking point! Christ almighty! This thread is longer than fucking War and Peace, with everyone arguing over the placement of a set of fucking numbers that would have nothing to do with anything if those god damned goose-stepping SOBs, true to their stereotype, _don’t insist that an 86-year-old woman who suffered a stroke — mobility issues, indeed — MUST SHOW UP IN PERSON ONCE EVERY FUCKING YEAR to prove she’s alive before they continue a measly $100-a-month stipend._ Nothing short of showing up in person! She should consider herself lucky she’s not in a fucking iron lung! You’d think the cash comes out of Angela Merkal’s personal fucking account! Bunch of god-damned SOBs. No wonder they lost two fucking wars. **Edit:** Oh oh. I mentioned _two_ wars. Maybe I’ll get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/139 "2012-09-23T16:49:07Z")
**Kenm** , that is one of the very best rants I’ve seen in ages. Congratulations - I loved it! ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945/140 "2012-09-23T20:56:31Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > … > > What? Why on earth would they do something that silly? If they did, I’d give them a sharp lecture and the same stinkeye I will now focus on you. Half-American? Excuse me? What exactly is a half-American? I would have thought it’s perfectly clear. One can be half-American, just as one can be half-Welsh or half-Irish (as I am). One Irish parent, one not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-european-embassies-in-america-use-american-style-dating-on-your-official-notices/633945.md?page=6)