Why does America display the date MM/DD/YYYY.

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Mermaidman

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: Mermaidman
Logically, the best way is

YYYY MM DD

It's so much easier to sort in that format.

I don't see how that is any more logical than DD/MM/YYYY...

DDMMYYYY does not sort in chronological order. For example, if you name a bunch of files using DDMMYYYY format, then do a Sort-by-name in Explorer, it will not be in chronological order.


You could always sort by date & time created

 

[chrisms]

because... THIS IS OOOOOOUUUUUUUUURRRRR COUNTRY

 

[SportSC4]

Personally, I use the ISO standard (which has been mentioned by several)
YYYY.MM.DD

 

[StinkyPinky]

MM/DD/YYYY makes no sense at all. Either biggest to smallest or vice versa is logical.

 

[nageov3t]

when I say the full date aloud, I'd say "January Seventh, Two Thousand Seven." thus, 01 / 07 / 07

 

[cubby1223]

The real answer to the question is, because before the days of the internet, it never matterred what format you wrote dates in, just as long as everyone around you could understand the formatting.

But now thanks to the internet, people in the UK are able to access American products easier (like forums for example), and are forced to view timestamps (like those associated with forum posts) in a different date formatting, and become confused and irritable.

Neither formatting is right or wrong, logical or illogical. It's just what we are accustomed to.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

In other news, it appears that a majority of ATOT users do not understand proper usage of the word "logical."

 

[0roo0roo]

cuz when you sort through a list of dates month or year tends to be more important. either sort by year or month, rarely by day and months are shorter and easier to scan through than year.

just imagine a list of files sorted by date. 30~ files at a time with the same number leading as month makes it easier to sort through then constantly changing leading number

 

[biggestmuff]

I'm posting this at 080839Z JAN 07

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: Quasmo
It is more logical, January 9th, 2007 = 01/09/07. Makes more sense than 9th of January, 2007.

cant follow that logic.

more logical would be day...month....year

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
I'm posting this at 080839Z JAN 07

it probably means "zulu time"....not that i even remotely know what times this designates.

edit: got it....Z is the mitlitary term "zulu" what we refer as GMT

 

[OrganizedChaos]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: ScottyB
Because the British drive on the wrong side of the road, and we do not want to be like them.

Hey, roundabouts > cross roads

if roundabout = rotary, i agree

they recently turned a rotary near me into a big square with traffic lights on each corner, it sucks.

 

[yllus]

For some reason I always felt DD/MM/YYYY was the most logical - smallest to biggest or something?

 

[Ktulu]

Here at work we use DD-MON-YY

Simplistic and logical

 

[JRich]

So what's 7-10-2007?

 

[Patt]

Canada is dd/mm/yyyy too ... not just the UK. To avoid confusion in any applications I write, my default dates are 24-Aug-2006 because we deal with many Canadian and American companies.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: RichUK
Would you not agree?

I think the most logical is YY/MM/DD. But

I have lived in Europe for amny years and am accustumed to DD/MM/YY. However, I now live in the States so for purpose of clarity of communication I follow the custom here.

At the end of the day, the most "logical" thing to do in this case is follow the local custom. Because really, the whole point good comunication.

Imagine going to court here in the USA and trying to explain that when you dated your correspondance -02/01/07- is was Jan 2, not Feb 1. Could make a big difference.

Fern

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: LineOFire
There's nothing illogical about either way. I happen to say January 7, 2006 so I guess 1/7/06 makes sense. I don't say the 7th of January of 2006.

exactly.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: Quasmo
It is more logical, January 9th, 2007 = 01/09/07. Makes more sense than 9th of January, 2007.

I suppose it?s just what we have been brought up with. Personally, I would say "7th of January 2007".

look at it in order of importance.

"7th of" not important at all without knowing the month

"January" most important of the three items, because of seasons

"2007" not really important except in a historical context.

So putting the month first conveys the most important info first.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Tom

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: Quasmo
It is more logical, January 9th, 2007 = 01/09/07. Makes more sense than 9th of January, 2007.

I suppose it?s just what we have been brought up with. Personally, I would say "7th of January 2007".

look at it in order of importance.

"7th of" not important at all without knowing the month

"January" most important of the three items, because of seasons

"2007" not really important except in a historical context.

So putting the month first conveys the most important info first.

Wow... now we know why it is the way it is. Not that it makes any more sense.

 

[yuchai]

Don't know if it's been mentioned already, but in the Chinese language it's always year followed by month and day.

 

[krunchykrome]

What's illogical about it? How does displaying the date as MM/DD/YYYY make any more logical sense? It might look different to you, as your's does to me, but I dont think there is any logic behind it.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: Tom

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: Quasmo
It is more logical, January 9th, 2007 = 01/09/07. Makes more sense than 9th of January, 2007.

I suppose it?s just what we have been brought up with. Personally, I would say "7th of January 2007".

look at it in order of importance.

"7th of" not important at all without knowing the month

"January" most important of the three items, because of seasons

"2007" not really important except in a historical context.

So putting the month first conveys the most important info first.

Wow... now we know why it is the way it is. Not that it makes any more sense.

Suppose the world was attacked by seagulls, and you overheard their diabolical plan. Quickly you grab your cell phone and try to report what you know to Homeland Security.

But you only have time to blurt out one thing before the seagulls peck you to death.

If you relayed that the attack was schedule for "the 7th of ", that would be useless without the month.

If you relayed that the attack was scheduled for "2007", equally useless, no army could stand ready for a mass seagull attack for an entire year.

But if you said the attack was scheduled for "January", now there's some use in knowing that, allows for some planning you know.

 

[dullard]

Because they give you the two important pieces of information that you normally need and in the order you normally need it (month is more signficant thus it belongs first like all other ways of writing numbers; the millions come before thousands, hours come before minutes, etc).

This is January 8th. Bingo, that is all you need. Month then day. Often just the day isn't enough. Thus, you need both.

When a year is necessary, tack on the year at either end.

If you want logic, you wouldn't use ANY of these:
[*]YYYY/MM/DD
[*]YYYY/DD/MM
[*]DD/MM/YYYY
[*]MM/DD/YYYY

They are all illogical. We know there are different local standards around the world. Thus the ONLY logical date format writes out the month in text. Thus use one of the following:
[*]YYYY/Month in text/DD
[*]YYYY/DD/Month in text
[*]DD/Month in text/YYYY
[*]Month in text/DD/YYYY

Then you have logic because no one will ever be confused.

 

[yuchai]

Originally posted by: Tom

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: Tom

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: Quasmo
It is more logical, January 9th, 2007 = 01/09/07. Makes more sense than 9th of January, 2007.

I suppose it?s just what we have been brought up with. Personally, I would say "7th of January 2007".

look at it in order of importance.

"7th of" not important at all without knowing the month

"January" most important of the three items, because of seasons

"2007" not really important except in a historical context.

So putting the month first conveys the most important info first.

Wow... now we know why it is the way it is. Not that it makes any more sense.

Suppose the world was attacked by seagulls, and you overheard their diabolical plan. Quickly you grab your cell phone and try to report what you know to Homeland Security.

But you only have time to blurt out one thing before the seagulls peck you to death.

If you relayed that the attack was schedule for "the 7th of ", that would be useless without the month.

If you relayed that the attack was scheduled for "2007", equally useless, no army could stand ready for a mass seagull attack for an entire year.

But if you said the attack was scheduled for "January", now there's some use in knowing that, allows for some planning you know.

Using your example "January" is clearly not the most important piece of information. "January" could be January 2008 or 2018 or 2629. I would argue that "2007" is most important because at least we are talking about a finite number of possible days.