I’ve seen it on every online and paper form. Up until 1999, the final 2 years were all you needed, but now we have to be clear which century we mean, say when we specify the expiration date on a credit card.
I guess they figure to get a head start on the next turn of the century. Not to mention credit cards with hundred year expiration dates 
That 2-2-4-digit format started over 9 years ago, due to the ‘Millennium Bug.’
Recently I’ve noticed some forms reverting back to the 2-2-2-digit format.
I’ll confess something.
My bank deposit slips say “Date: (dd/mm/yyyy)” but I only put 2 digits for the year anyway, in direct defiance of the suggested format. I find it really adds to my bad boy image, plus it drives the ladies wild.
Don’t you mean “now asked to state the 4-digit year everywhere”?
I suspect that the reason for this is that “09” can also be mistaken for “September” or even “the 9th of the month”, depending on context. “09/11” has more potential for confusion than “09/98”, say.
For example, I’ve seen best-before dates on food saying things like
“Best before: 09-01-10”
Depending on the date format used (for which there is no clue given), that could mean January 9, 2010 (my first guess, for a UK product), or September 1, 2010, or January 10, 2009, or maybe even October 1, 2009.
Once we’re past 2012, the confusion will reduce somewhat.
Yeah, given that the world will have ended and all, it will pretty much be irrelevent.
Ooooohhh…how YOU doin’, Rigamarole?
I refuse to write the date numerically. Today has been August 28th, 2009 or the 28th of August, 2009. Accept no substitutes.
Numerically, ISO 8601 rules! 2009-08-29 all the way!
How do you do that? The checks I had in Canada demanded a date format of YYYYMMDD. Do you just write over it?
In letters, I use 28th August or 2nd July, but in official or semi-official or legal or semi-legal or banking or semi-banking documents, I use whatever the hell saves me problems.
At risk of a hijack, I’ll add that Ottawa was the first place I saw an apartment number included in the street number.
Instead of 101 Carling Apt #101, etc., I saw 101-101 Carling.
Now that was odd.
And before anyone comments on why I’m posting cheque regulations trivia on a Friday night, I’ve already had a terrific night out including excellent prime rib.
I still regret that weather demanded my moving on from Thunder Bay that afternoon.
I too.
Since 101-101=0, I’d be very tempted to write 0 Carling. Or possibly 0 Carlings.
Don’t do that, for it would start a rumour of a beer shortage, which in turn would cause the government to fall.
Yay! I mean, ‘oh no!’
I write it in words above the space provided. If some boffin needs to fill it in, they can.
The silly part is that it isn’t standardized from bank to bank. Our bank wants year, month, date - my mother in law’s bank wants month, date, year. What’s the point of cooperating with a system that leaves 132 dates per year ambiguous?
In September and October, we go into keg party season. What’s the bet the government falls at that time?
Huh. I thought it was standardized on YYYYMMDD. That’s what the Royal Bank uses on its cheques. They made a fuss a few years ago about new cheque standards and all; that would have been the best time to standardize.
That’s very common here. I put A2-3 My Street when I’m writing down my address; if I want to be particularly clear, I put 3 My Street, Apt. A2. But I think the A2-3 form is more common.
Of course, if you live on a numbered street, like the ones in Long Branch, it gets more interesting. 3-115 30th Street.