Why do Americans do the date differently?

[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.

 

[ZephrC]

Because it just happened that way and it doesn't actually matter? It's not like anybody planned this sort of thing. We just don't feel like rearranging everything we do so we can fit in with all the cool kids.

 

[tawmus]

The United States is a relatively new country. There are probably park benches in Europe older then the U.S. If you are making a new country that is suppose to be "different" then the established order, of course you are not going to use generally accepted methods of measurement.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

This is unrelated to the topic but I'll say it nonetheless.

I notice an unnecessary amount of Anti-American opinions here. I have to ask; why?

Political issues? If you assume that one country's government is worse than another you mislead yourself, you can criticize America for the war in the Middle East, but I could equally put Britain at fault for it's unfair treatment of India, or even look to Russia's infamous purges.

Our people? Different cultures have different clothes and food, but human nature doesn't change once you cross the border. All men and women of every country have lust, anger, hate and jealousy. It doesn't matter whether you live for Queen and Country or the Red, White and Blue.

 

[The Boy in the Hat]

Because 9/11 sounds better than 11/9.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

I think its a matter of size, with the smallest number of possible integers going first. You have 12 possible months, up to 31 possible days, and 9999 as far as years are concerned.

 

[Jonluw]

Because they realized how much it bothered us that they kept clinging to their feet and inches, so they decided to come up with a new way of writing dates.

In the dictatorship of Jonluwonia, we shall write the date "month\[sup]week[/sup]/[sub]year[/sub]\day" just to confuse people

 

[mr_rubino]

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.

Ah, sorry, governor. Allow me to do the more more acceptable thing:
Gaw! America! Those Yanks are their differences from us! What uneducated tobbyrot! *monocle*