Why do Americans write their dates down backwards?

[Sacman]

Bicus Weer AMERICANS!

Fuck you world! We'll drive on the RIGHT side of the road. Measure things in INCHES FEET and YARDS. Because the lawn in front of your house is an accurate measurement! As well as your FEET!

We'll harass the rest of the world with ounces! Gallons! Pints! Which most Americans don't know how to measure! Whatever the fuck a quart is! I thought that was a subatomic particle? Oh wait... thats a quark.

MILES BITCHES. 5280 feet!

[HEADING=1]WHY?[/HEADING]

Because we can.

As an American I think it's retarded that we don't use the metric system I mean it's way easier to remember that 1,000 meters=1 kilometer than 5,280feet=1 mile( I thought it was 2,580 feet until I googled it last year) hell it's easier to remember that 1KM≈3.24×10−14Parsecs...

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Same reason we don't use the metric system!

BECAUSE WE'RE BETTER 'AN YOU!

And what's all this about the LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD?!

We're 'Merican! DRIVE. ON. THE. RIGHT.

 

[Jinxzy]

Quick! lets let our toilets decide which ever toilet flushes counter-clock wise are the real people that are backwards.

 

[Kingemoney]

Because as Americans we do things that are silly and illogical merely because we're American, and that inherently means we're smarter and cleverer than the rest of the living world.

 

[rockingnic]

At least we drive on the right side of the road!

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

and don't use the metric system?

Actually we've begun to adopt it, well my Schoolwork has.

On Topic: Because it seems to annoy you.
That's right, it's all a conspiracy...

 

[TK421]

We write day month year around where I live[small] ("05, April 2010")[/small], and I live in America

 

[Pingieking]

The same reason they don't use the metric system.
Because they're crazy.

 

[UberNoodle]

However, when archiving, M/D/Y doesn't work. Neither would it in reverse, Y/D/M. All the years would be consecutive but then all the days would be lumped together!

Here would be why the Americans do it this way: it replicates the spoken pattern of, January 1st, 2010. Whereas in other countries many people, if not most, will say 1st of January 2010.
Eitherway works fine but not for archiving, which would be the main reason for writing the date down in such shorthand.

Biggest to smallest is the best way to go, which is the British system in reverse.

 

[Disaster Button]

Because they're American, and so can you!

 

[Megacherv]

Americans do a lot of shit backwards for no apparent reason.

Seriously, why are we the only country that drives on the right side of the road, write dates month, day, year and don't use the metric system?

Pretty much all of Continental Europe drives on the right, it's us that seems to be the odd one out.

 

[darthzew]

If you want the real explanation... In most Latin languages, you say the day, then the month, then the year, the same way that their dates are written. In Portuguese:
Quinto de Abril, 2010, which would translate literally to Fifth of April, 2010.

In English, you do it backwards, you would say April fifth, 2010.
Basically, put, we write it the way we say it. I'm not exactly sure why we insist on this difference, but that's the jist of it.

 

[vento 231]

Americans do a lot of shit backwards for no apparent reason.

Seriously, why are we the only country that drives on the right side of the road, write dates month, day, year and don't use the metric system?

Because metric is for queers, especially you france!

 

[PunkyMcGee]

we Americans drive on the correct side of the road (we invented the car so we get to make the rules)

 

[chstens]

I believe the only countries that still drive on the left side of the road are Brittian and... India? Maybe a few more, but not many. So when it comes to roads, Britian is the odd one out, and the date thing is kinda annoying, I guess? But it's easy to translate, though I would wish that you yanks started the metric system, your military does when measuring distances, one click = one kilomter

 

[Tinneh]

I always write it down as 5/Apr/10, I might be weird, but, who knows? I was born in England but I moved before I could even write, so I don't know where I picked this up.

 

[UberNoodle]

why do british people write the dates backwards? day/month/year? thats stupid

Because it (D/M/Y) escalates in terms of size and ranking, and follows the spoken pattern of "1st of January 2010". "January 1st 2010" is not really correct grammatical placement and is ONLY used with dates. It is mirrored in the American system of M/D/Y.

 

[Fidelias]

What if Americans are the only one's who do stuff the right way, and everyone else is wrong?
Not buying it?
Oh well, worth a try...

 

[Xero Scythe]

I was just wondering because Americans always say the UK is stupid for spelling things like 'colour' in that way. I actually agree because there is no need for the 'u'. but then I was like wtf hypocrisy! they put the dates in the most stupid order: month,day,year! I honestly don't know how you can even look yourselves in the mirror

who says we're writing it backwards? just because you had the idea first doesn't mean it's right. the original thoughts about the world were that the sun orbited the earth and that the earth was flat. Galileo and Elcano (Magellan died) proved those ideas wrong.

I'm not saying that we're right and that you're wrong. I'm just saying try to see the other side of the question before you jump off into the land of bias and flawed logic.