# Date Formats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-formats/54359 "2001-02-13T20:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-formats/54359/1 "2001-02-13T20:30:02Z")
Why in the US does the date format go month-day-year ? In the UK we use day-month-year. I think that this is a more logical system because it progresses from the smallest unit (day) to the largest (year). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-formats/54359/2 "2001-02-13T20:42:14Z")
I agree that dd-mm-yyyy makes more sense. Military dates are 13 Feb 2001, are they not? Europeans and Ameicans use decimals and commas differently too, do we not? Pi =3.14159 in the USA and 3,14159 in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Perderabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-formats/54359/3 "2001-02-13T20:54:33Z")
Over here, we would **pronounce** today’s date as _February thirteenth, two thousand one_. Or something like that, the pronunciation on 2001 does vary. But we do tend to pronouce a date in month-day-year format. So we write it that way too. Do you guys pronounce dates the same way that you write them? I’m not trying to be contentious, but I’m under the impression that you would pronounce the date month-day-year as we do, yet write it down in day-month-year format. In the computer field, year-month-day is very common. And [this site](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html) says it is now an international standard. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-formats/54359/4 "2001-02-13T21:27:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*\*David Cronan \*\* > I think that this is a more logical system because it progresses from the smallest unit (day) to the largest (year). It would be more logical if we wrote numbers with the smallest units first, but we write numbers with the largest units first. Two thousand and one is written 2001, not 1002. What makes sense is put the largest units first, because that’s the way we write numbers. The reason this is so popular with computer types is that you can compare dates by just comparing the two strings without breaking them into subfields. - That, and it’s more logical. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-formats/54359/5 "2001-02-13T22:58:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Perderabo \* > **Do you guys pronounce dates the same way that you write them? I’m not trying to be contentious, but I’m under the impression that you would pronounce the date month-day-year as we do, yet write it down in day-month-year format.** Yep. Today is Tuesday 13th February 2001 (or as I normally write it, Tuesday 13 February). > [@](#): > > \*\*In the computer field, year-month-day is very common. And [this site](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html) says it is now an international standard. \*\* Yes, I use this at work too, even as a convention for dating files. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-formats/54359/6 "2001-02-14T01:52:08Z")
Another development I’ve noticed here in Australia (we use the British system of Day/Month/Year, by the way), is the replacement of ordinal numbers with cardinal ones. Hence, what used to be “14th February” in correspondence, or “February the 14th” verbally, is now simply “14 February”, or “February 14” respectively, with the “th” becoming obsolete. This shift in language seems to have occurred over the last ten years or so.