# Why MM/DD/YYYY? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503 "2002-03-22T06:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/21 "2002-03-22T14:08:17Z")
Being that I do a lot of stuff internationally through emails to several different continents, I always write it out like 3 April 2002, because if I say I’m flying in on 3/4/02 it can really become a mess. More trivia. In Taiwan it’s 22 March 91 as they count from the overthrow of the Qing dynasty (the Last Emporer). ---
**Author:** ![dcurt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dcurt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dcurt)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/22 "2002-03-24T04:35:35Z")
The military has taken care of this problem very well and rightly so as you wouldn’t want to be invading somewhere on the wrong day. It is always dd/(month written out, such as May, Jun, Jul, and so on)/yyyy. The is practically fool proof. dcurt ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/23 "2002-03-24T13:05:11Z")
**Mangetout** , if you’re interested, I can knock off a quick couple of Access functions for converting dates back and forth. My e-mail address should be in my profile. I’m just a linguist-turned-database-programmer, but my guess for why it’s month, day, year is that most of the time, when people are dealing with dates, they’re working within one year’s time frame. For that matter, in a database I’m building at work, in a listbox where people can see the history of a set of transactions, I’m only displaying the month and date entered because the type of transaction I’m dealing with shouldn’t be active for more than one year. As a result, standard practice is just to say month and day. ie. > [@](#): > > ``` > When's their anniversary? > It's April 14th. > > ``` If more specific information is needed, the year is appended as a short subordinate clause: > [@](#): > > ``` > When's their 40th anniversary? > It's April 14th, 2002. > > ``` Of course, this is talking about Americans from someone who was born in the UK, raised in the US, and self-identifies as both. Yes, I’m confused!🙂 CJ BTW, Happy 40th, Mum & Dad! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/24 "2002-03-24T13:43:56Z")
If we’re talking _logically_, then D/M/Y or Y/M/D would make more sense (IMO), since it’s “small unit”, “larger unit”, “largest unit”, or vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/25 "2002-03-24T16:20:51Z")
i’m an american, and i follow the day-month-year format. although i started following that only a few years ago, after thinking “y’know, smallest to largest makes a lot more sense. small to medium to large, instead of medium to small to large”. but i write out the month as well, to avoid confusion (so my class notes friday had 22Mar02 or 22Mar2002). most of my friends at uni are from other countries (predominantly poland and russia), and they appreciate someone who understands how they date their typed notes. when a friend needed notes for a lecture in november and said “lecture on 5/11”, i without hesitation went to my november files and got the right date. she said, “wow, i always have to correct myself with a date with everyone else, but someone gets it!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/26 "2002-03-24T16:32:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\ ***Mangetout** , if you set your database server’s regional settings to dd/mm/yyyy, _and_ make sure your ODBC connections are set to “British English” rather than just “English”, you can, in fact, store and retrieve dates in that format in MS SQL server. I forget the exact steps required to do the same for Access, but, if beaten, threatened and abused in the right manner, it too can be made to comply. > > (Thus sayeth Steve, who has devoted significant portions of his life to getting dates out of American format and into databases.) \*\* [hijack for FYI] Dates in SQL and Access are stored as a ‘number of days since …’. The changes in regional settings, etc. only control HOW the dates are displayed. [/hijack] Bob ---
**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:** [March 24, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/27 "2002-03-24T22:02:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by urban1z \* > \*\* > > [hijack for FYI] > Dates in SQL and Access are stored as a ‘number of days since …’. The changes in regional settings, etc. only control HOW the dates are displayed. > [/hijack] > > Bob \*\* Sure, but an SQL queryof those is just a bit of text; the order in which you place the month and day in the WHERE clause is critical. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/28 "2002-03-24T22:14:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*The only really logical format is YYYY/MM/DD, which I came to understand after working with computer files. > > As to the OP, Americans write the month first because after all we’re used to speaking it that way. Today is March 22, 2002. That’s the way that feels natural and easy to say. > > I have heard a few BBC types who will say “Twenty-second March” out loud, but to my ears that sounds affected and slightly bizarre. It also sounds (logically) like the 22nd in a series of Marches, like “This is the 22nd March since 1980 that there hasn’t been a snowfall!” \*\* NO! We say “The 22nd \*\* of \*\* March” ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503/29 "2002-03-26T23:20:59Z")
Ode To Billie Joe" (Bobbie Gentry): “It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day…” D-Day is also often referred to as “the sixth of June”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mm-dd-yyyy/99503.md?page=1)