# Do people outside the US refer to 9/11 as 11/9? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163 "2002-09-22T19:38:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/1 "2002-09-22T19:38:51Z")
It just occured to me that being that everybody else uses the day/month/year format 9/11 wouldn’t apply everywhere else. Does it? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/2 "2002-09-22T19:44:10Z")
Well there goes our plan to make the rest of the world change to our date format. Way to go, **Ants**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/3 "2002-09-22T19:57:03Z")
On all the news channels and in papers over here it’s 9/11. My guess for the reason is it was an American ‘event’ so is known in America as 9/11, so we also call it 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/4 "2002-09-22T20:30:34Z")
We say “elfte september” over here. ---
**Author:** ![Nils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Nils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nils)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/5 "2002-09-22T20:49:27Z")
Elfter September over here. It’s more the words not the numbers for this. Reading only 11.09. will ring a bell only after some thinking (at least for me). But when I read 9/11 I pretty much know at once what is meant. This might be because I read and watch a lot English news. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/6 "2002-09-22T21:11:47Z")
The media does call it 9/11, but I still say ‘eleventh of September’. When talking about the event I imagine most would use the US format, when talking about the date I think most would still use the format they grew up with. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/7 "2002-09-22T21:21:58Z")
Some of the UK media say “11th of September” too. ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/8 "2002-09-23T00:39:50Z")
I’m pretty sure that in Australia they are calling the event “September 11”. But usually when we read the date, we say “Eleventh of September”. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/9 "2002-09-23T04:27:25Z")
Here in Brazil we say Setember 11th (Onze de Setembro) - Sad thing was I marked it on my calander and lots of locals didn’t know why 11/09 was so important to me, the gringo!! ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/10 "2002-09-23T04:36:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tsubaki \* > \*\*I’m pretty sure that in Australia they are calling the event “September 11”. > > But usually when we read the date, we say “Eleventh of September”. \*\* I can back you up on the first one but not really on the second statement - I can only remember it being called September 11. The term 9/11 is not really used, though you do hear it sometimes in the media. ---
**Author:** ![kase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@kase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kase)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/11 "2002-09-23T08:07:43Z")
elf September here. Or 11/9/2001 it’s strange to see the month before the day ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/12 "2002-09-23T09:27:50Z")
It’s refered to as the “11 septembre” event. Just writing 11/9 wouldn’t be immediatly understood. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/13 "2002-09-23T09:57:28Z")
The press over here refer to 9/11. If I was talking about the events of that day I would say 9/11 or Sept. 11th but if I was just talking about a normal day without a “title” I’d say the 11th of Dec. for example. ---
**Author:** ![Beastal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Beastal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/14 "2002-09-23T10:31:24Z")
Here in Australia it is regularly referred to as “9/11”, but “September 11” would be the more common term that is used. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/15 "2002-09-23T11:31:18Z")
Months are rarely referred to (conversationally) by number here in the UK; most people seem to refer to it as ‘the 11th of September’ or possibly ‘September (the) eleventh’. However someone mentioning ‘Nine Eleven’ would almost certainly be understood. ---
**Author:** ![Leechlord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@Leechlord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechlord)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/16 "2002-09-23T11:33:51Z")
In Indonesia, we use 11/9/2001 format ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/17 "2002-09-23T11:41:46Z")
In Ireland, the form “dd/mm/yy” or “dd/mm/yyyy” is used quite a lot, but the form “dd/mm” would be used only very, very informally - you might see it on a post-it note, but never in a newspaper headline. The form “mm/dd” would generally never be used. Having said that, the specific form “9/11” would be recognised as a reference to the events of 11 September 2001. But it would often indicate an _American_ reference to those events. I recall seeing a newspaper earlier this month which had two articles headlined “America mourns 9/11 victims” and “Ireland remembers WTC victims”. ---
**Author:** ![ScryeR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScryeR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScryeR)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/18 "2002-09-23T12:29:16Z")
Most people refer to it as 9/11 here simply because thats what they call it in most international media. (specifically CNN) In agreement with the above posts, 11/9 would not be immediately recognisable. September 11, however, is, and so is often used as well. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/19 "2002-09-23T16:01:20Z")
A movie, _11’09’'01_, composed of short films by a variety of directors from many countries, played at the Toronto Film Festival. Each film was eleven minutes, nine seconds and one frame long and each commemorated what we in the U.S. call 9/11, but is obviously thought of elsewhere as 11/9 More about it [here](http://movies.yahoo.com/news/va/20020911/103179597800.html). ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163/20 "2002-09-23T17:36:57Z")
Glad to hear that “9/11” is so popular. Several months ago I predicted that the events were so traumatic to us 'Merkins that we’d never end up giving it any real name like “Freedom Day” or “Patriots Day” or anything like that. It will be quite sufficient to refer to “Nine Eleven”, and everyone will recognize it. (The phemomenon is not unlike many people’s preference for “July Fourth” over “Independence Day”.) Anyway, another advantage that “9/11” has over even “September Eleventh” is that people will be able to say and write things like “Ever since 9/11…” and it will not need a qualifier, in contrast to “Ever since September 11…” which could be ambiguous without specifying “Ever since September 11, 2001…” “9/11” will never again be ambiguous. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-outside-the-us-refer-to-9-11-as-11-9/129163.md?page=2)