# Why month/day/year? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2000, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183 "2000-04-09T02:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183/21 "2000-04-11T13:03:00Z")
**DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!** I was right the first time! That’s what I get for posting without coffee! The thing is this: When the dates are written as I write them, i.e., 4-Mar-00 or 12-12-00 or 27-6-00, there is no confusion. They can each only be one date. * * * “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![skupla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@skupla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skupla)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183/22 "2000-04-11T13:26:00Z")
How do you like 01-01-01? or 01-01-01, spot the difference? No i didnt think so. How about 01-11-12? My point is that now is really the time to get this straight. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RussellM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183/23 "2000-04-12T08:59:00Z")
**Johnny L.A.** - why? Why would anyone use such a system. I agree there can be no confusion about the date - I missed the point about using ‘mar’ instead of ‘03’. Seeing what I expected - not what was written. But, still, **why**? If we are to use ‘00’ for this year, then it shouldn’t matter where we put it in the date order - nothing else could be ‘00’ Take the 20th day of February 2000 as an example. We could write 00-01-20, 00-20-01, 01-00-20, 01-20-00, 20-00-01, 20-01-00. There is no possibility of confusion about any of these six options, so I should be able to use any one of these forms, and switch to another layout for different dates. But some might say that would be a stupid thing to do. Russell ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183/24 "2000-04-12T11:57:00Z")
**RussellM** I think you’re missing the point. I write the day of the month first. It’s just the way I do it. In order to avoid confusion by people who don’t know that I write the day first, I abbreviate the month if the day is less than 13. But in my personal matters, I know what I’m doing so I just use numbers. For example, my chequebook will have 1/4 for April 1st. No need to abbreviate the month because I have a convention and I stick to it. ## “Why” do I do it this way? Why not? AFAIK it’s not illegal. “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![RussellM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183/25 "2000-04-12T14:06:00Z")
**Johnny L.A.** > [@](#): > > I think you’re missing the point. I write the day of the month first. It’s just the way I do it. In order to avoid confusion by people who don’t know that I write the day first, I abbreviate the month if the day is less than 13. But in my personal matters, I know what I’m doing so I just use numbers. For example, my chequebook will have 1/4 for April 1st. No need to abbreviate the month because I have a convention and I stick to it. > “Why” do I do it this way? Why not? AFAIK it’s not illegal. Of course it’s not illegal, but it may be illogical. The whole point is that I was wondering why you would willing choose to adopt two conventions rather than one. If you would write 01-apr-00 (for public consumption), why don’t you also use 30-apr-00 ? I don’t want to fall out over this, I just think it’s odd and I’m trying to understand why you do it. Russell ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183/26 "2000-04-12T16:35:00Z")
Americans use month/day/year because they are perverse. Unfortunatly there are so many of them they think they are normal 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-month-day-year/10183.md?page=1)