Why do Americans do the date differently?

[CrazyDave DC]

I do year/month/day just to be awesome, ha ha, or maybe because that's how my Casio watch is set up.

 

[Ironman126]

Because any other arrangement would make pi day impossible?

This. There is no other explanation.

 

[whycantibelinus]

Make minor changes so they can feel like they're not just copying a country most of them see as their own personal ***** nation.

That was certainly uncalled for. Damn. Happy fucking new year.


OT: No idea, I guess because we choose to be different for no reason?

 

[Normalgamer]

They enjoy making things feel like their own. They do it with language too. Make minor changes so they can feel like they're not just copying a country most of them see as their own personal ***** nation.

This.
America is like that angsty teenager who acts all different because it makes him feel rebel or something.

Just like Australia is that video-game hating place where everyone rides Kangaroos. Right? Because saying something about a country based on one thing is cool.

OT: Honestly, probably because day goes up 31, while month only goes up to 12, so they try to make the smaller numbers first for some reason.

 

[Sag185]

Time actually flows differently in America- athough you cannot notice it (due to Temporal Formulaic Physiological Adaptation), an American day is as long as an English month... yet an American month is only as long as an English day!

This paradoxical arrangement confused all, until, one day, President America of the time made the wise decision to simply alter the way dates were recorded.


So, in other words, I have no idea. Seems a trifle pointess, if you ask me, but try asking either side to change.

I luld so hard

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

I dunno. It always made more sense to me when I was learning it both ways by my parents, though I think that's because it was enforced in preschool.

 

[nothinghere]

IDK, Im still wondering why we dont use the more simple Metric system.

They say it would cause huge problems in industry and the such because nobody would be able to figure out measurments and such.

They also said it would be too much work to change the whole system.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I've thought about this, and I the best answer I came up with is that it's more natural in speech to state the month before the day. For example August twelfth, nineteen ninety eight, as opposed to the twelfth of August, nineteen ninety eight. In that sense I agree with our habit of listing months before days, since in general conversation most people will say the month before the day. It's just a preference, but I think it sounds better in casual speech to say (month) (day) than to say the (day) of (month).

this. this is the only reason i can come up with as to why that is. it just sounds better and more fluent as to say "January 1st in 2011" rather than "the first of January in 2011".

 

[Reyalsfeihc]

Day month year makes alot more sense then month day year.
I mean did anyone actual step back and look at that with any logic before deciding that? like wtf

Not necessarily. If I were to say today is the fourth of january of 2011, you're looking to the numerical day of the month which if it were from broadest to most specific would run year to month to day. So I guess by putting the month first we're simply narrowing from broadest to most specific versus saying today is the fourth, then labeling it in the month of january.

 

[Otogi]

If I had to guess by looking at the other differences in things like the metric system: convenience and ease, if only because of it working at the time it was created. Otherwise, it sticks and winds up all the way to here.

 

[TheDudeMan14]

the same reason we don't use the metric system

 

[zHellas]

Probably because when we(Americans) say the date, we say it as: November 27th, 1962 or whatever.

And many other countries might say it as: 5th of November, 1992.

So we write it out like we say it.

 

[v3n0mat3]

The fact that people care astounds me. The fact that people criticize Americans for doing it that way baffles me even more. Who cares? It's personal preference. There's no right or wrong way to do it. Like writing in print v. writing in cursive. Some do it, some don't. It's very much like saying "my way is more right than yours". Well, what makes your way the only way to do it? Take me for example. I write it as: DD.MM.YYYY (yes, with the periods), and I'm American. I was just taught that way. *shrug* Either way, it's just the date!

 

[turbo4400]

It was probably Ben Franklin

 

[Otogi]

Probably because when we(Americans) say the date, we say it as: November 27th, 1962 or whatever.

And many other countries might say it as: 5th of November, 1992.

So we write it out like we say it.

And this is probably the source.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

They enjoy making things feel like their own. They do it with language too. Make minor changes so they can feel like they're not just copying a country most of them see as their own personal ***** nation.

That's a very narrow minded view, with every culture there is distinction in the customs and language. There are several languages derived from Latin, including German, Italian and Russian. You can't degrade an entire society because their culture reflects another society with minor variations. They come from the same place, so naturally there will be similarities.

If you assume that all Americans are ignorant and hateful, you need only look at your own post from another perspective to see that such conclusions are clearly biased and implausible.


Oh, and about the whole "date" thing. Who cares?

 

[imnot]

They enjoy making things feel like their own. They do it with language too. Make minor changes so they can feel like they're not just copying a country most of them see as their own personal ***** nation.

Pretty much this and they wanted to make themselves seem different from the other colonies

You may need to learn your own history. You used to spell words the right way, but changed your mind to impress the mainlanders. We Americans merely continued to spell things correctly.
Speaking of butchering the England language, why don't the chavs talk like the kids did in Romeo and Juliet anymore? =(

Dont be silly chavs arent human!

 

[Tdc2182]

They enjoy making things feel like their own. They do it with language too. Make minor changes so they can feel like they're not just copying a country most of them see as their own personal ***** nation.

Sound like you have some strange and suppressed emotions there, bud.

OT: Ugh, something to do with Communism probably.

 

[SageRuffin]

Because we Americans are stupid.

That's not sarcasm; I'm dead fucking serious. Why else would we try to impose our rights and beliefs on other sections of the world? We're a bunch of fucking idiots who ultimately can't stand the fact that there are people who aren't cut from the same cloth.

Oh yes I forgot that every other country except the US is open and free to everyone. Forget France kicking out the gypsies, or the Italian soccer game a few years ago where everytime the black player got the ball, the stadium started to make monkey noises, or hell even the subject of the thread.

Americans aren't being different to be different. We developed our own style of things. Thats it. Period. We didn't all sit down as a country 200 years ago and say "Fuck the world, we are special so we will do what we want.

First off, I'm talking about today's day and age. Keep in mind that a lot can happen in 200 seconds let alone 200 years.

But think about it for a second. Something as minute as putting the month first instead of... uh, however other countries record the date just seems like there was no real reason to it; tweaking something that small with no real benefit looks like the hierarchy was trying to hard to separate itself from the rest of the world.

You don't have to agree with it, but there it is.