# You can call me a backward Limey if you want but
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 13, 2002, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787 "2002-05-13T11:44:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/41 "2002-05-15T05:21:05Z")
How about this…
STARDATES!
(runs off like the geek she is)…
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### Author:  [@cadboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadboy)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/42 "2002-05-15T06:34:13Z")
Enter the Trekies
Captain Kirk has a lot to answer for
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/43 "2002-05-15T09:39:09Z")
At last, another Aberdeen based, oilfield trash type!
Erm, which firm? And are you sure it wasn’t you who got taken over?
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### Author:  [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/44 "2002-05-15T10:03:56Z")
By the Borg ?
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/45 "2002-05-15T10:49:28Z")
Ok so how would you say a date outloud in other countries? (Serious question)
I say my birthday as “February 11th, 1972”
If I were to put the day first, I’d say “The 11th of February, 1972” but that format doesn’t come up often, if at all.
To say “11th February, 1972” makes it sound like there are 11 Februrarys… so how is it usually said outside the US?
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### Author:  [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/46 "2002-05-15T10:52:30Z")
In Oz, I would say the 30th of July 1964.
Or Thirty, Seven, Sixty Four.
I would never say July 30th.
But that’s what you get for asking an Aussie I suppose.
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### Author:  [@sirjamesp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirjamesp)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/47 "2002-05-15T11:11:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by OpalCat \*
> Ok so how would you say a date outloud in other countries? (Serious question)
>
> I say my birthday as “February 11th, 1972”
> If I were to put the day first, I’d say “The 11th of February, 1972” but that format doesn’t come up often, if at all.
>
> To say “11th February, 1972” makes it sound like there are 11 Februrarys… so how is it usually said outside the US?
“11th February” _is_ said “11th of February”.
On the other hand, to say “February the 11th” in the American fashion gives the impression that this is the eleventh month ever that was called February - as in “Elizabeth the 2nd”.
Hmm, that last sentence is a mess, but I can’t seem to re-phrase it.
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### Author:  [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/48 "2002-05-15T11:51:45Z")
But saying March 6 (not sixth, six) is more efficient than saying The Sixth of March. Takes less time. Thought speed and efficiency was incredibly important to the **cadboy**
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/49 "2002-05-15T14:28:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > ? Who still uses Julian dates?!
>
> The sad fuckers who think saving a byte on the screen is gonna be good for their pockets.
Oh, Boy! We could have a really neat discussion here regarding the Julian date format, the Julian period, and the Julian Calendar!
So, is today 02/215 or 4th May, 2002 (Or has the gap already increased to make it 3d May, 2002?)
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/50 "2002-05-15T17:14:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> On the other hand, to say “February the 11th” in the American fashion
I rarely hear it that way. Most Americans would say “February eleventh” not “February **the** eleventh”
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### Author:  [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/51 "2002-05-17T01:58:01Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kambuckta \*
> \*\*Fucking Americanization! \*\*
Um, **kambuckta** dear, I think you meant to say “americanisation”.
“Americanization” is the american spelling of “americanisation”.
Happy Monty Day!
Redboss
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### Author:  [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/52 "2002-05-17T02:01:44Z")
And I do hate being the fifty-first to post. It feels so, well, drafty up here at the top of the second page.
I mean you know so many Dopers are going to come and open up the second page and only find one feeble post form me and say “well, that wasn’t worth the trouble, was it?” and, well, I do have a habit of killing threads off.
Please somebody, anybody, post something. I’ll pay handsomely…
Redboss
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/53 "2002-05-17T02:16:33Z")
no
😃
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### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/54 "2002-05-17T02:50:21Z")
something
😃
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### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/55 "2002-05-17T02:55:31Z")
something
😃
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/56 "2002-05-17T05:36:22Z")
Well, there’s allways \*\* Unix Time \*\*…
(the time, in seconds, that has elapsed since Jan 1, 1970.)
Obscure, useless, AND geeky!
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### Author:  [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/57 "2002-05-17T12:09:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Darth Nader \*
> \*\*Well, there’s allways \*\* Unix Time \*\*…
>
> (the time, in seconds, that has elapsed since Jan 1, 1970.)
>
> Obscure, useless, AND geeky! \*\*
If you’re going to be geeky, do it right.
time() is the number of non leap seconds since the epoch, the epoch being 1/1/1970.
On a Mac, the epoch is different (and more logical).
Ben
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-call-me-a-backward-limey-if-you-want-but/108787/58 "2002-05-17T22:09:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html](http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html)
> Julian dates (abbreviated JD) are simply a continuous count of days and fractions since noon Universal Time on January 1, 4713 BCE (on the Julian calendar). Almost 2.5 million days have transpired since this date. Julian dates are widely used as time variables within astronomical software. Typically, a 64-bit floating point (double precision) variable can represent an epoch expressed as a Julian date to about 1 millisecond precision. Note that the time scale that is the basis for Julian dates is Universal Time, and that 0h UT corresponds to a Julian date fraction of 0.5.
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