Why do Americans do the date differently?
- Thread starter Rockchimp69
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I always thought it was because the Month helped indicate the season, and among other things, determine quick recognition of 'when' this document or whatever is timestamped, took place.
It might make sense to write the date in increasing values of time, but I know I find organizing things easier when I'm looking at many items from within the same year and need to organize them chronologically, by simply looking at the month. Then again, you've also probably noticed we tend to do things differently/our way just because we can.
It might make sense to write the date in increasing values of time, but I know I find organizing things easier when I'm looking at many items from within the same year and need to organize them chronologically, by simply looking at the month. Then again, you've also probably noticed we tend to do things differently/our way just because we can.
"Logical" in this sense is subjective. If you mean more logical as in "it goes in order based on length of time unit," then sure.Jewrean said:
If you mean more logical as in "it goes in order based on how large the value can become [for example, months go 1-12]," then no.
If you mean more logical as in "the day is more important than the month and therefore should go first," then that's a subjective qualification of the importance of a specific day in time vs a month in time. Different cultures may put different weight on the importance, and neither way is more "right" than the other, because in the end the same information is transmitted, is it not?
If you mean more logical as in "putting the day first gives someone an immediate frame of reference, even before seeing the rest of the date," then that is also a subjective qualification on what part of the date best gives someone a frame of reference for the time. Though for this one I'd argue it doesn't, and therefore that it could often be more advantageous to have the month first (because at least the month can reference what part of the year the event occurred in).
It was primarily done to seperate the new country of America from its mother country, Britain. However, you can always tell a current/former of the American military because they write the date as such:
2JAN2011
or
2JAN11
2JAN2011
or
2JAN11
because its safer, apparently the human brain will make you swing left when heading for collisions. (think about that weird dance you do when you walk into someone, it almost always starts by going left) so when you swerve in Britain you end up in a ditch, in the US you end up under an 18 wheeler.Xojins said:
OT: no idea why the US has it the other way round but it is incredibly annoying when watching a trailer for a game/film and the release date is given as 05/09/11. now I have no idea if the date is day first or month so have no idea when the thing is even coming out.
It's kind of like this-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu_illAgCPg
Oh and by the way, if you know how to embed youtube videos on the escapist, please tell me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu_illAgCPg
Oh and by the way, if you know how to embed youtube videos on the escapist, please tell me.
That's what I was referring to.minuialear said:
But this goes against your previous information. You were arguing that there is no clear victor logically (which for the most part I agree with) and now you are shifting bias to what you are used to. The 'part of the year' thing goes back to your previous post as well hindering it useless information seeming as it depends on ones own personal perception of logic.minuialear said:
To put it simply; day / month / year:
Short amount of time / Medium amount of time / Long amount of time
Makes more sense logically. Any and ALL other arguments are personal opinion or bias except for the one I raised before about ordering the dates on a computer or in a filing cabinet.
I guess because it's always been written out that way. January, 21, 1847 - September, Twenty-First, 1892 - 05/12/2011. It just seems natural to us.
Americans like to be different I guess. Personally I tend to switch back and forth depending on what I need the date for so I guess by American standards I'm weird.
It's a Phonetic Classification vs a Nominal Classification
If I read 1/2/11, I can easily and phonetically speak it as "January 2nd 2011", which is how it is spoken here (the month is more important because a day is ambiguous; it can only be a number. If we moved away to just calling the months by number, rather than by name this argument would make more sense. But not even the Europeans do that).
For casual reading, or daily reports it's just more convenient, especially if it's in the middle of a sentence (since Americans so deranged/stupid that they still read left to right...oh wait).
Of course, Nominal Classifications are better for long-term record keeping, because it's easier to read them in a list (important for directory listings).
2/1/11
2/3/11
2/17/11
3/2/11
So if anyone is just using this as another excuse to call Americans stupid/insane/lazy, there actually are practical reasons to use either ordering. Don't worry, I'm sure irrational hatred will win the day though.
If I read 1/2/11, I can easily and phonetically speak it as "January 2nd 2011", which is how it is spoken here (the month is more important because a day is ambiguous; it can only be a number. If we moved away to just calling the months by number, rather than by name this argument would make more sense. But not even the Europeans do that).
For casual reading, or daily reports it's just more convenient, especially if it's in the middle of a sentence (since Americans so deranged/stupid that they still read left to right...oh wait).
Of course, Nominal Classifications are better for long-term record keeping, because it's easier to read them in a list (important for directory listings).
2/1/11
2/3/11
2/17/11
3/2/11
So if anyone is just using this as another excuse to call Americans stupid/insane/lazy, there actually are practical reasons to use either ordering. Don't worry, I'm sure irrational hatred will win the day though.
