Why do Americans do the date differently?

[dancinginfernal]

The same reason we don't use the metric system.

We like to be different, for some reason.

 

[Rockchimp69]

Just to piss off people like you.

I never said anything about finding it stupid or wierd, why do there have to be people like you who can't have a normal discussion about something with making it an argument?

We just do. And to send it right back at ya, why do all of you Europeans and Asians drive on the left side of the road, huh? That's so silly.

Nah, just England and Japan. Two isolated islands. =P

England isn't an island it's a country along with Scotland and Wales that make up the island of great britain which contains numerous small islands as well.

Japan is several thousand islands not just one. I'm not attacking you just letting you know

*sigh* Two isolated archipelagos. Better? They also both have an odd predilection towards calling undergarments "pants".

We just do. And to send it right back at ya, why do all of you Europeans and Asians drive on the left side of the road, huh? That's so silly.

Nah, just England and Japan. Two isolated islands. =P

Actually driving on the left was how it was done originally. It was a system invented by the Romans and the whole of Europe was using it up until Napoleon decided that everyone should drive on the right. So really we're right, you're wrong, again.

Terribly intriguing, old chap, but you haven't clarified what else you're "right" about. Sticking unnatural letters into words and calling it classy certainly isn't "right". (Napoleon, eh? Sure was a looong time ago, wasn't it?)
God bless the Englanders. If they're not adding cosmetic changes to something and retroactively claiming it's correct, or losing half the world in one fell/prolonged swoop, they're keeping traditions the rest of the world gave up and claiming superiority for it. Must be nice to live in a little soap bubble while the rest of the world has to share borders with things.

Just to clarify, I'm English and I don't think the way we do anything is necessarily the "right" way. Some Americans seem to (incorrectly) think that England has the same views towards Americans as we did a few hundreds of years ago.

Edit: the pants thing is just an English idiom. Just because it happens to be the same word with a different meaning in American english doesn't matter.

 

[Upbeat Zombie]

I don't know thats how I was always taught in school. Never really thought about it really.

 

[Utrechet]

Sadly, I am an American, so I think that I can give a quick idea into your head.

Americans enjoy messing with the rest of the world. Americans HATE the SI math system, we are basically adapting our own English system, we cling to Capitalist motives, and we enjoy wiping ourselves with the normal date system.


I hate our American ideology -.-

 

[KiKiweaky]

Think it stems from the way they say it like there its january first, here it would be the 1st of January.

But it bugs the crap outta me, I'm never sure of the date on most forums if they dont specify the format. Like today is 1/1/11, its fine now as its the same in both formats but if the number changes it makes me all confused :s

 

[Naheal]

Today's date is 2011年01月01日

Fuck you all. General to specific and each is marked accordingly.

Edit: Fuck. Stupid new year.

 

[DarkRyter]

It aligns with the elongated way.

January 1st, 2011.

Month/Day/Year

Other than that, possibly we place higher priority on knowing what month it is?

 

[The Grim Ace]

It all seems to be we just like to be different. I write my dates as day-month-year just because I prefer it and people have gotten used to it but people who don't know me usually get extremely confused. One of these days we'll probably get around to it, same with going metric already.

 

[Iosifavich]

Personally I think both systems are stupid, when you can use // (YYYY/MM/DD). When working with large numbers of files/databases that span months or even years using DD/MM/YYYY you end up with crap like 01/02(feb)/2011 comming before 02/01(jan)/2011 or MM/DD/YYYY you end up with 01(jan)/01/2011 before 01(jan)/02/2010.

 

[Lethos]

We just do. And to send it right back at ya, why do all of you Europeans and Asians drive on the left side of the road, huh? That's so silly.

Nah, just England and Japan. Two isolated islands. =P

England isn't an island it's a country along with Scotland and Wales that make up the island of great britain which contains numerous small islands as well.

Japan is several thousand islands not just one. I'm not attacking you just letting you know

*sigh* Two isolated archipelagos. Better? They also both have an odd predilection towards calling undergarments "pants".

We just do. And to send it right back at ya, why do all of you Europeans and Asians drive on the left side of the road, huh? That's so silly.

Nah, just England and Japan. Two isolated islands. =P

Actually driving on the left was how it was done originally. It was a system invented by the Romans and the whole of Europe was using it up until Napoleon decided that everyone should drive on the right. So really we're right, you're wrong, again.

Terribly intriguing, old chap, but you haven't clarified what else you're "right" about. Sticking unnatural letters into words and calling it classy certainly isn't "right". (Napoleon, eh? Sure was a looong time ago, wasn't it?)
God bless the Englanders. If they're not adding cosmetic changes to something and retroactively claiming it's correct, or losing half the world in one fell/prolonged swoop, they're keeping traditions the rest of the world gave up and claiming superiority for it. Must be nice to live in a little soap bubble while the rest of the world has to share borders with things.

Wtf? Did your girlfriend leave you for an English bloke or something? You seem to have a rather large chip on your soldier. I think it's cute that your perception of England is out of date by about 100 years but, you really shouldn't display your ignorance so openly.

 

[game-lover]

I don't know why. I'm pretty used to it.

I imagine if you were to ask most younger people now, they'd think the other way is more confusing... maybe.

 

[Freechoice]

Does it really matter?

Can we chain quote this?

 

[Firetaffer]

Why do they continue to use imperial measurements? Cause it is a very silly place.

Haha yeah, what's the point of that system? I mean I understood the foot is a nice length between a cm and a Meter and I occasionally use it, but to use it for scientific measurements just seems outright silly.

 

[Daverson]

So days of the year are in the correct order when arranged numerically, presumably. It does beg the question of why the year isn't moved to the front though...

For example, 13th December is after 26th June, but the standard way of writing it, 1312 and 2606 would be automatically sorted so 1312 is before 2606, while in the American way, 1213 is after 0626, which makes more sense. Of course it falls flat when you factor in the year, because 12131998 would be moved after 06262003.

When I'm writing stuff for myself, I tend to write the date YYYYMMDD (Or YYYYMMDDHHMM, when I need to be precise!), when I'm writing stuff I know other people are going to read I use the normal DD-MM-YYYY

 

[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.