this post was submitted on 31 May 2025
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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.

What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?

EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:

  • I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
  • I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
  • I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
  • This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.

So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.

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[–] Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I was taught DD/MM/YY and that's what I use in typed form, but I prefer MM/DD/YYYY, at least in speech e.g. 'June 13th 2025'. It feels cleaner to narrow by month, then day, otherwise you're mentally having to wait for context, working backwards. The year is almost irrelevant as it changes so infrequently, about once a year.

ISO 8601 for organising on a computer, as sorting by largest to smallest is the most logical.

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[–] throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 days ago (3 children)

In Chinese, its also Month, then day.

Its always "五月 三十一号" (May 31st), never "三十一号 五月" (31st May)

When saying a day in history, the full format is used: 一九六九年 七月二十日 (1969 Year 7th Month 20th Day), but when you use it during every day life to refer to a day in the same year, the year is omitted. If you are referring to the same month, the month also get ommitted.

TLDR: Not unique to "Americans"

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[–] JackLSauce@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Linguistics

In UK English, it's considered proper to write "the 6th of March" as "6 March" and sometimes read as "6th March" which can be jarring to Americans as their shorthand is "March 6th" and when "6(th) March" is encountered in written form, it's expanded to the full "6th of March" when spoken

That doesn't mean this won't be yet another feature American English absorbs from UK English but right now flipping them in speech requires a few extra syllables and people are lazy

[–] NONE_dc@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

people are lazy

Kinda relatable ngl 😅

[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 3 points 4 days ago

Many computer systems store dates starting with the year. Isn't that interesting?

[–] callouscomic@lemm.ee 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

All display of time should follow this format:

Chronon.PlanckTime.Yottayear.Zettayear.Exayear.Petayear.Terayear.Gigayear.Megayear.Kiloyear.CosmicAge.GalacticYear.Epoch.Eon.YourMom.Era.Aeon.Megaannum.Millennium.Century.Decade.Year.Month.Day.Hour.Minute.Second

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[–] Mac@mander.xyz 1 points 4 days ago

Context clues.

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