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A funny thing about Americans and calendar dates

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Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Mickey7@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e0fe6ec7-7167-4830-8321-dd4f9ac3cb3d.jpeg

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  • TabbsTheBat@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    As someone from a yyyy-mm-dd country, you’re all wrong /hj

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    • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I always use yyyy.mm.dd as my date format whenever I sign and date documents. I also use a pictograph instead of initials. Someone tried to forge a contract edit to try and get out of paying but used the mm/dd/yy format. The moment my lawyer showed this to their lawyer, they settled immediately for the original amount, legal fees, and late payment penalties. Dumbasses.

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      • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        That’s beautiful. I love a bit of personal standards to fuck someone else’s day up.

        I typically change my responses on the form to Calibri if using MS Office. It’s not enough to pique anyone’s interest, but it’s different enough to spot what I’ve added to a form rather than the usual Arial additions if you’ve been told about it.

        Someone at my office tried to say I’d said something on a form when I hadn’t, and took great delight pointing out the slight difference in typeface on the field that wasn’t my edit.

        It’s satisfying as fuck coming back at someone with receipts.

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      • lugal@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        So I could use a different than usual date format for a document I might want to recall

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      • TabbsTheBat@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        All legal documents here use yyyy-mm-dd so I’ll unfortunately won’t be able to pull that :3

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    • Lembot_0001@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      And what is that country? Unixopia? Linukstadt? Databaseo?

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      • TabbsTheBat@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Lithuania if you want the serious answer :3… china, japan, both koreas, taiwan, bhutan, mongolia and hungary also use it

        But yes, im from linuxstan :3

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      • Ziglin@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Germany officially specified it for documents for a while but that was amended to also allow for dd.mm.yyyy since not enough people actually used ISO 8601.

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    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Why can’t Trump use unitary executive theory to do something good…like force everyone to use ISO 8601.

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      • MithranArkanere@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Nah. Someone would make up some convoluted and confusing template, pass it to Trump as “freedom dates”, and he’s sign it without reading.

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      • TabbsTheBat@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Would probably claim it’s chinese propaganda or smth, and then go back to golfing

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      • endeavor@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Doing fumb shit like imperial, farenheit and mm dd yyyy is the most conservative thing possible. By definition.

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    • swag_money@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Image

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    • dutchkimble@lemy.lol ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s the only correct way to save file names

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    • sittinonatoilet@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’m similar I just don’t use - or anything. Works well when I sort concert recordings.

      yyyymmdd Venue City State

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    • Paddzr@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      As long as month goes in the middle and the year is 4 digits, no confusion.

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  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Both are wrong. The correct way to write the date is YYYY-MM-DD. This is the only way to sort dates linearly in a list. ISO 8601.

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    • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s frustrating that people are so bad at dates that ISO8601 lives rent-free in my head because I constantly have to tell people ;)

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    • kameecoding@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Hungarian is close enough

      YYYY.MM.DD

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      • tatann@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I can be OK with that

        But not with having elected the Trump of EU

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      • MisterFrog@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        ♥️ this is what I decide to use at work. Dots are superior than dashes in my opinion because they prevent line breaks

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    • Osan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      In Arabic we use DD/MM/YYYY but it actually gets written as YYYY/MM/DD since Arabic is written and read from right to left. When the year is dropped the confusing part is not what format is used here but rather does this website/software support RTL or is it just regular unformatted ASCII.

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      • Ziglin@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Should work if you have an RTL invert character before, right? (Not that you could name files with the slashes.)

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    • easily3667@lemmus.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’m so glad you think we are all computers

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      • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Our lives involve computers to a huge degree.

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  • Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Coldest take: if any common date format is difficult for you, you’re a little bit ridiculous

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    • RyanLiu@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s all fun and games until someone drops a 7/4 and you don’t know which country they’re from

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      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        November 9 never forget.

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      • Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Context clues are enough for me, 4/7 times

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      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I only deal with people from one country, but I always write out the month so there’s no confusion in important messages. Even including the day of the week as a type of verification.

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      • tuhriel@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I usually go for if it has a / its probably US date formate…

        We use dots in our Locale

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    • MisterFrog@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      MM/DD/YYYY genuinely causes issues, because it’s very easily misread by the rest of the world, and vise versa for Americans.

      I have been mislead more than once, because the MM and DD are both ≤ 12.

      MM/DD/YYYY needs to die

      Month Day YYYY is fine, because it’s unambiguous when the month is spelled out.

      YYYY.MM.DD, or similar, is the only way to sort dates properly anyway.

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      • Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I don’t actually disagree with anything you said, I was just being a bit cheeky

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    • henfredemars@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Happy not allowed! There can only be one correct date format!

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  • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Why is the format not:

    2025/4/12

    Biggest time frame to smallest time frame (year, month, then day)?

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    • Amir@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      As a computer scientist, I’ve been doing this everywhere for over 10 years already. Be the change you want to see in the world.

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      • suite403@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I worked for a company that did their dates multiple ways and it was fucking impossible to know what date was what. It was super frustrating. I’d prefer this, but if you don’t, at least keep it consistent once you start.

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    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Issues with unix paths. I prefer YYYY-MM-DD.

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      • ptu@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        2009, got it

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      • harsh3466@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        This is the way.

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    • chicagohuman@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      ISO8601 FTW!

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    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      ISO Tanf rise up.

      Also 2025/04/12

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    • sawdustprophet@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      2025/4/12

      Don’t forget leading zeroes, we’re not half assing this!

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      • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        02025/04/012

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    • Oaksey@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      For written format that is ideal but when talking about a date, say in two weeks time, saying the year is redundant.

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    • pyre@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      my guess is order of relevance.

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    • epicstove@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      In my computer engineering course this is literally how we were told to write the date on our lab reports.

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    • Echo5@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      This is how I do it- my folders and files are super easy to find

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    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Canada uses this

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    • easily3667@lemmus.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Because humans are not computers. That scheme makes sense when you are filling out things that are not nearby in time. For example, filling in your birth date on tax forms.

      Otherwise, humans don’t generally need the context of the year. The same is true of the month only if the context is clear (I’ll see you on the 20th implies the very next 20th). A year is much longer and most things are not planned out that far in advance. If they are, they often dont have precise dates in which case a month or even a quarter is more appropriate.

      Time is also one of those things where humans are so used to contextual processing that representing the full date adds overhead. 2025/4/20, 4/20/2025, 20/4/2025 all take more processing than “the 20th” or “next Sunday”.

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  • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    What Americans are calling people idiots for saying <day> of <month>? We say it both ways all the time. 4th of July, July 4th… it’s not a complicated thing.

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    • SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s like saying USAians don’t have a sense of humour. Some USAians are MAGAt knob heads, some are perfectly reasonable people. More or less like anywhere else.

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    • AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That is a weird one: every other date is “normal” order but for some reason this is an exception. Also weird that we call it with backward date more often than its actual holiday name

      • July 4 is a normal date
      • Independency Day is the name of the holiday
      • so why do we usually refer to it as “Fourth of July”
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      • ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        We don’t say July 4 because that’s a normal date, we don’t say Independence Day because there are so many of those on different days for different countries.

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  • SirBucksworth@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    What do you think of DD/HH/YYYY/Min/MM/Sec?

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    • Flipper@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Could be improved by swapping hours and minutes. They are more important after all.

      Also that way the time isn’t in order anymore.

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  • henfredemars@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I like DD MON YYYY. Feels very grand and unambiguous, but people always look at me funny for using it.

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    • SARGE@startrek.website ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’ve been told I need to redo paperwork because I marked the date like 12APR2025.

      I get standardization for computers, but for something a person is going to look at I feel like it’s very direct, needs no explanation or interpretation. Anyone who sees it should be able to figure it out instantly.

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      • Ziglin@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        To be fair I read it as 12A PR 2025 (yes I am stupid). It could also be the 12th version of the main PR of 2025. I’m not great with abbreviations and when it comes to months I’m also not used to it. Numbers seem superior to me.

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      • henfredemars@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        There is very little room for interpretation even if you don’t know the date format. That’s BS.

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  • MNByChoice@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    July 4th

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    • Lembot_0001@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      July 4th

      How many Julies do you have there in the US? 5? 7?

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      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        We had one, yes, but what about fourth July?

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    • Eat_Your_Paisley@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      To be fair the holiday is actually Independence Day

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  • WanderingThoughts@europe.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    With the way things are going over there, the whole thing falls apart soon enough and this issue can be fixed in the rebuild.

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  • Surp@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    None of this dumb shits going to matter when the meteor sephiroth summoned blows the earth up

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  • Harvey656@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m an American and do day/month/year.

    I thought this was how it was done everywhere?

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  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    We say it thats way for the benefit of the British.

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  • Bloomcole@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Don’t mock them.
    One day you will meet one in person and he’ll beat you up if he’s 7 foot, 3/5 thumbs and 2 elbows tall.

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  • letsgo@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Don’t you mean Eramicans?

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  • IzzyJ@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Why can’t we just call it Independence Day, that’s what it’s actually called

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  • easily3667@lemmus.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Up until the convent thread I’d never heard an American say that at all.

    And there’s no proof the shithead in the comments is American. Definitely a troll though.

    In any case this is easy to explain since the 4th of July was a holiday made by British citizens.

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  • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    We write it how you’d say it. Outside of holidays or days of remembrance we write it how you say it.

    For example today is 4/13/25. April 13th 2025. If you say the 13th of April you’re fuckin weird.

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  • Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    People mentioning ISOs are such forks and it’s adorable

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  • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Canada’s just like you have to guess

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