Why do Americans do the date differently?

[Kevvers]

Ideally we should all adopt the iso standard YYYY/MM/DD as it makes it easier to parse dates as you don't need to know the user's locale.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Well, we could always go with another calendar, where today's date is 11002. Yes it is a real calendar. New years eve last year was 10365. New years eve next year will be 12366.

care to elaborate which calendar ?

 

[EllEzDee]

Like someone else said, and for some reason got put on probation:
They like to mess with things to distance themselves from the original.

 

[Shade184]

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).

For me, it's more natural to say the day first. I think it's just the way things have always been done, and old habits die hard. It's not that big a deal.

 

[Frotality]

the same reason we dont use the metric system; because shut up.

in all honesty, the only reason we do either of those things is because none of the higher ups feel like going thru the effort to switch everything with a date and measurement to a new system.

so yeah; cultural stagnation, because we dont feel like social progress...its too much of a hassle apparently.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Because any other arrangement would make pi day impossible?

and Mole day (10/26, for those that dont know a Mole is anything x 1026)

OT: just cause.

Now I'm honestly curious. Whats with all this hate on America with how it does stuff and wants them to change? Well, maybe not hate, but all these kinds of questions. Is it really bothering anyone if we use a month/day/year format?

 

[Kurokami]

Can some American escapists tell me why you guys do the date like this : month/day/year
instead of in order like this: day/month/year?
(I would have just google'd this but its better to get a wider range of answers and I wouldn't know how to phrase the question)

They left England for a reason, perhaps it was due to spite or an attempt to separate themselves from their past oppressors and yada yada.

 

[tthor]

Why do some people use the imperial weight system, instead of metric?
Why do some people countries use 12 hours clock system (am/pm), instead of 24 hour (0-23,59) system?

Meh, I think it is just a tradition that got stuck or something... I don't mind how do you write the dates long as they don't start saying my system of D/M/Y is wrong.

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.

Just like the Romans did... They copied everything, including their gods, from other civilisations.

well, i know that we use imperial instead of metric because when the united states were first created, the founders didn't want this country to be anything like the brit's, so they used the imperial system as sorta a 'f u' to Britain and their metric system

 

[Nomanslander]

I don't know. Why is such a pointless topic 9 pages?

 

[e2density]

IDK, It's what I was taught.

 

[Akalistos]

Can some American escapists tell me why you guys do the date like this : month/day/year
instead of in order like this: day/month/year?
(I would have just google'd this but its better to get a wider range of answers and I wouldn't know how to phrase the question)

Because they say it and learn it that way?

 

[Jewrean]

You don't know my preference for writing dates, so please refrain from making assumptions about what I'm "used to." The fact that you perceived some sort of bias towards how I write a date and tried to say it invalidates my argument is evidence that you didn't get my argument, which is you can argue that any way of writing the date is better or "more logical," and can come up with pros and cons of each of these methods. Whatever you choose as the "most logical" will simply depend on the logic you choose.

I do know your preference for the way you write dates because you already made it clear which one was more "advantageous" than the other. Are we ignoring that you said that now?

Also, you seemed to fall for the bias trap, again, in this very response (emphasis mine):

I admit to being bias myself. I prefer D/M/Y. I also explained the logic behind it. I was pointing out that you showed bias at the same time as appearing as a neutral party. If you were truly neutral (ie: thought that there couldn't possibly be a clear winner and neither trumps the other) then you wouldn't explain a preference.

Ignoring the fact that you ironically dismiss my argument due to imagined biases hindering my ability to give useful information and then proceed to argue that one way is the "most" logical (not just logical, but more logical than anything else), your definition of "most logical" is more logical because...why?

I already explained why I thought it was more logical. Wasn't your argument that neither system is better than the other? It isn't an imagined bias when you explained which was better than the other from your viewpoint.

Why is it "more logical" to organize the parts of the day by how much time they take up (in ascending order)? What logical advantage is there to that, which exceeds any logical advantage to any other method/logic of writing the date? Why not start with the largest amount of time and go down? Why not arrange the elements by the amount of information they yield about the time frame the event took place in? Why aren't these as logical?

I'm going to grab a view definitions from the dictionary to help me explain.

Logic:
-A method of human thought that involves thinking in a linear, step-by-step manner about how a problem can be solved.
-logical - coherent: marked by an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts; "a coherent argument"

Yes both D/M/Y and Y/M/D both satisfy the logical definitions in that they are both orderly and linear. I suppose the amount of information is also logical but remember we are only comparing D/M/Y and M/D/Y. Amount of information is a personal perception as what would you consider as the most important (D, M, or Y). The next form of order would be what the symbols actually stand for, case in point, a measurement of time. So to make sure that they are logical and orderly we could go from smallest to biggest or vice-a-versa. Putting the M on either end would undo the logic.

There is a logic to EACH of these, and EACH has its merits, so how do you choose which logic is "most" logical? Other than through bias? And knowing that bias is a factor in determining the "most" logical, does it therefore make any sense to try and argue that any one method is actually more logical than the rest?

Each need that you explained is a worthwhile reason to express the date a certain way. But for a moment put yourself in the average Americans shoes for a second. If they needed to check what the date was for their dental appointment then they probably wouldn't care about the month first would they? The vast majority of people requiring knowledge of the current date would need it for the DAY before any other piece of pertinent information. If you are in a certain profession (such as the US military which expresses the date as Y/M/D) then it may well be beneficial to keep it that way and various groups of people shouldn't be forced to change the way they see it.

I'M just saying that to me, D/M/Y is more logical. Not only from smallest to biggest (biggest to smallest is also fine as described above) but also for what the majority of the world needs the date for. This of course is for people who read left to right.

 

[Kakashi on crack]

I think it's linked back to the original American civil war, but I seriously have no clue.

Now, personally I find the other system used by hispanics, Europe, etc. to be much easier once you get it down.

 

[SinisterGehe]

Why do some people use the imperial weight system, instead of metric?
Why do some people countries use 12 hours clock system (am/pm), instead of 24 hour (0-23,59) system?

Meh, I think it is just a tradition that got stuck or something... I don't mind how do you write the dates long as they don't start saying my system of D/M/Y is wrong.

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.

Just like the Romans did... They copied everything, including their gods, from other civilisations.

well, i know that we use imperial instead of metric because when the united states were first created, the founders didn't want this country to be anything like the brit's, so they used the imperial system as sorta a 'f u' to Britain and their metric system

And yet you still spoke english, and you still do. And your government has also accepted metric system to be a a formal measurement system.

 

[Tib088]

I pointed this out the other month to some freinds about the Black Ops realese date which in england came out on 9/11 if you read it the British way.

 

[Rockchimp69]

Can some American escapists tell me why you guys do the date like this : month/day/year
instead of in order like this: day/month/year?
(I would have just google'd this but its better to get a wider range of answers and I wouldn't know how to phrase the question)

Because they say it and learn it that way?

That's not the reason why the whole of the USA does it like that, that is why individual people do.

 

[Rockchimp69]

Can some American escapists tell me why you guys do the date like this : month/day/year
instead of in order like this: day/month/year?
(I would have just google'd this but its better to get a wider range of answers and I wouldn't know how to phrase the question)

They left England for a reason, perhaps it was due to spite or an attempt to separate themselves from their past oppressors and yada yada.

That wasn't the question but I think it was too find new lands of wealth and build a brighter future for themselves. Which I guess you can say worked since you're now a superpower.