# Date Differences **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435 "2003-07-05T20:24:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![QueenJbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3be4f8/32.png) [@QueenJbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenJbean)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/1 "2003-07-05T20:24:10Z")
Why do Britain and most European countries write their date DD/MM/YYYY While over on the American side they write it MM/DD/YYYY Where did this come about? ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/2 "2003-07-05T21:17:48Z")
This is probably an apocryphal story, however this is what I was told in Social Studies, low these many years ago. The British way of writing dates goes from the most specific to the least specific – day, month, year. The Americans use to use this method of dating however, during the industrial revolution a way of dating that was more convenient for recordkeeping was needed. So, since most records were kept by month the month started to be put first, thus – month, day,year. ---
**Author:** ![QueenJbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3be4f8/32.png) [@QueenJbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenJbean)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/3 "2003-07-05T21:34:39Z")
Hmm - thank you It really confused me when I was little ---
**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:** [July 6, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/4 "2003-07-06T01:09:46Z")
But Britain industrialized earlier and also needed to keep records… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/5 "2003-07-06T01:13:47Z")
In order for dates to sort correctly on a computer, I always enter them as year, month, day, so today is 030705. This has worked since 000101, and I hope it catches on. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/6 "2003-07-06T01:46:45Z")
I believe that year-month-day is the ISO standard. The reason it sorts properly is because it follows the way we write all numbers starting with the most significant digit and going down to the least. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/7 "2003-07-06T03:34:42Z")
I got used to DD/MM/YY in the military and still use it. Maybe it’s just American civilians who still don’t use it. ---
**Author:** ![Tradnor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@Tradnor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tradnor)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/8 "2003-07-06T05:02:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panache45 \* > \*\*In order for dates to sort correctly on a computer, I always enter them as year, month, day, so today is 030705. This has worked since 000101, and I hope it catches on. \*\* Why use a system that only works for the last few years? If you enter the date as 20030705, it works all the way back to 00010101. ---
**Author:** ![jvzuuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e47774/32.png) [@jvzuuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jvzuuk)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-differences/186435/9 "2003-07-06T07:07:04Z")
In Canada we are equally as likely to use the American MM/DD/(YY)YY format as the British/European DD/MM/(YY)YY format. This obviously leads to constant ambiguity, so I usually opt for: DD ABC (YY)YY, where ABC denotes the first three LETTERS of the NAME of the month (i.e., JAN, FEB, MAR etc.). Today’s date would be rendered as either 06 JUL 03 or 06 JUL 2003.