If a user sees some random date, such as 3/4/xxxx, they have absolutely no way to distinguish if this is in their format or not. If you're in the US, you might

If a user sees some random date, such as 3/4/xxxx, they have absolutely no way to distinguish if this is in their format or not. If you're in the US, you might assume that this is in your backwards M/D/Y format, meaning it's April 3rd, and you'd be right much of the time. If I, in the US, see 3/4/xxxx, its meaning is March 4th, definitely not April 3rd. But the fact that you got your example wrong only proves your overall point that it's a mess!