this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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You are objectively wrong.
Yes, MM DD YY only makes sense when you're speaking.
In written language it should always follow the order of smallest to largest, meaning day, month, and then year. Imo.
Though I personally try to use YYYY-MM-DD as much as possible in day to day life, if not applicable I use DD MM YYYY. YYYY-MM-DD of course doesn't follow the order of smallest to largest, instead following the opposite order, though at least it has an order.
When does saying the month first ever help when you're speaking? The month doesn't change for like 30 days. The only thing that matters is dd which changes daily. If someone asks me what the date I'll give them the day date and nothing else.
I don't need to say it's the 9th and watch them panic that maybe it's January.
I don't even know how to reply to this.
So if you made an appointment for the 2nd of September you'd tell 'em "yeah let's meet on the 2nd" or "yeah let's meet on the 245th" you're gonna need the month somewhere.
Of course if it's the same month it wouldn't make a difference if you said "let's meet on the 10th" or "let's meet on the 10th of August" but if you're making appointments for different months which in everyday life or in a work environment is not unusual you can't just say "yeah the 2nd" and expect them to know which month. "Yeah you can expect delivery by the 4th".
Tl;Dr:
I didn't even say "it's the only way to say it when speaking" I said "only makes sense when you're speaking." because in written form MM DD YY is just shit for everyone except Americans, to the point where context sometimes is the only saving grace. Vice versa applies.
You only need to add the month if it's not the current month. The same with the year.
Yep you're 100% right. My job start date was miscommunicated because of this, they were like "you start on the 17th"... turns out it was the next month. Better than getting it wrong in the other direction though for sure!
Largest to smallest is way more logical than smallest to largest. You start general and get more specific as you progress. It is in general a better approach to conveying information and cataloging data. Not just dates.
Yeah but if you're communicating a date, then it's likely that the larger chunks of time will match and can be ommitted, so it's natural to go up the chain in until you hit the day/month/year that matches the current one. Although I guess that'd imply using minutes before hours... I guess you could go large to small and skip anything that matches too. Nvm lol
For many people it doesn't. It's something that's exclusive to the US. In British English it's day before month when speaking.
It's something that is taught in school as "remember that the Americans say date before month so you don't get confused". But in a business context it's bloody annoying you don't switch to the international standard.
Yes, we also do days first in Germany.
Like I replied to someone else in this thread: I wasn't saying "it's the only way that makes sense when speaking" I said "it only makes sense when speaking". That doesn't make any other way of saying dates make less sense when speaking though.
It turns out I can label my files any way I like, thanks.
No, you can't. Don't bother locking the doors tonight, I'm coming in anyway.
The judge a few weeks later: "you did this because of WHAT?"
Reported