4 ms·
I recently realized that M-D-Y makes a lot more sense than we give it credit for. Date formats needn't be about the cardinality of the units, in this case it's
by blago 5y ago
I recently realized that M-D-Y makes a lot more sense than we give it credit for. Date formats needn't be about the cardinality of the units, in this case it's about spoken language. The M-D-Y format simply follows the order of the words in (EDIT: American) English. We say January 4th, 1970. Try reading D-M-Y in (EDIT: American) English and you will quickly realize that it doesn't make sense. I suspect most other spoken languages use 4th January, 1970 so D-M-Y feels more natural to them.
EDIT: I'm sorry if I offended you by equating American English with English. Point taken. I misspoke. The point remains.
- dan-robertson 5y agoI would say “[the] 4th of January 1970” in English. I think saying “January 4th” is an Americanism. It feels to me that in some sense 4th is acting as an adjective coming after the noun it modifies, which is unusual in English.
- lebuffon 5y agoInteresting that Americans commonly say "The fourth of July". Is that a carry over from 1700's American parlance?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jrockway 5y agoI always like the visual look of D-M-Y in writing; a word bounded by two numbers (1 January 1970). If it's going to be all numbers, 1970-01-01 seems like the right way to do it. (RFC3339 is the best time format.)
- snthueoa 5y agoYes, in England we’d typically say “(the) 4th of January, 1970”, in line with D-M-Y. I have no idea if the correlation is causation, or which caused the other.
- zebracanevra 5y agoSorry, but English speaking countries that use DMY simply say "4th of January", and it in no way doesn't make sense.
- stevesimmons 5y ago> We say January 4th, 1970. Try reading D-M-Y in English and you will quickly realize that it doesn't make sense. Beware your unconscious ethnocentricity! Presumably you are American. I am English. English is the language I use. The D-M-Y format simply follows the order of the words in English. "We" say 4th of January, 1970. Try reading D-M-Y in English and you will quickly realise that it does make perfect sense... D-M-Y feels more natural to us.
- blago 5y agoGood. Then we both agree that date formats tend to reflect spoken language, not unit cardinality. FWIW English is my second language. I'm sorry if my ethnocentricity offended you.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- smcl 5y ago> We say January 4th, 1970 I'd say "the fourth of January". Also, quick question - what do you call Independence Day in the USA? :) Both ways are valid and can sound fine, it just depends on the locale and context.
- Adverblessly 5y agoIt is true that this is common in American English. This goes somewhat to explain why patriotic Americans get together every year to celebrate the most American of holidays, "July Fourth" :)