Why can't you record the date correctly?

[Mem]

Like someone else mentioned. If the rule is to go from smaller increments to larger why say it is 12:30 and not 30:12?

 

[Drifterwood]

Do you mean 30:12 or 00.30 Mem?

 

[sneakyd]

I appreciate that you have been teaching us how to play the game for the last twenty years, Sneaky, but whose fucking game is it in the first place?

Australia two hundred before lunch , how many stubbies have you had?

It was only early . I was just on my second . They were Darwin stubbies though

 

[Principessa]

This thread has really had me chuckling.

I love to moan about the way America got the hump about not having it's own language so invented American English, by removing the odd letter here and there. I don't have an actual gripe about it, I find it amusing.

But oh my god... aluminium is a 5 syllable word!

haha

:lmao: Everyone in America knows the second 'i' is silent. :biggrin1:

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

But everyone who can speak English knows it's not NJ

 

[Principessa]

But everyone who can speak English knows it's not NJ

:tongue:

 

[koval]

Quote:
Originally Posted by koval

they have enough difficulty with their smelling as it is. :biggrin1:

Koval, I am shocked at you .

Nice try with the falsifying of my comment sunshine. But it won't wash, a bit like your aftershave! :09:

 

[prepstudinsc]

Of course.

Today I shall have lunch, then breakfast, and finally ddinner.

It's Breakfast, Dinner, Supper--but only on Sunday.

 

[nudeyorker]

Sorry this is how I learned to do it and I've had people try to correct me..
Today is...
19 August, 2009
The logic for me is it's the 19th of August 2009!

 

[tripod]

Americans are fucking retarded and have a strong desire to be backwards.

Why? I have no earthly idea.

 

[gymfresh]

Day, Month, Year.

What is the logic behind this, Month, Day, Year, nonsense? :tongue:

While I love the humorous tone of this whole thread, I'm going to take a stab at a serious answer to the OP's question.

I've pondered the same thing, and I believe it has a deeply human answer. We tend to think (or reference, if you will) in terms of calendar months. Thus, the date is too fine an increment to have immediate meaning, and the year is often too large. Most events we speak of in the present occur within the past, current or future year. Otherwise, we begin by saying, "Back in 1992..."

For example, in common conversation it fixes relevant facts in the listener's mind more quickly to hear "We got back from our cruise on October 15th" (relevant point being that speaker was away on a cruise in October) rather than "We got back from our cruise on 15 October" (date is presented first, but it's not really helpful information -- one has to wait for the month to grasp it in the mind).

A more striking example comes up with the perverse way that Gannett newspapers (which includes USAToday) number their pages. Any normal newspaper has pages like A-5, C-1 and D-10. Thus you know which section to go to first, then which page to go to. Gannett numbers its pages 5A, 1C and 10D. Inexplicably stupid and contrarian.

While reciting numbers from finest increment to most general increment makes mathematically logical sense, it is not necessarily the most "human" way to think about or express dates. Ditto addresses; Russian postal guidelines dictate that from top to bottom the address lines read:

Country
City-Postcode
Street-Housenumber
Apartment or Unit
Addressee's name

One could argue that this is inherently more logical than Western addresses, because it goes from most general to most specific, exactly how the post is handled. Is it "better" than our system? More, or less, "human"?

This "way of thinking about things" also underlies many Americans' resistance to adopting the metric system. Measurements like meters, kilos and litres seem sterile to many here, who prefer feet, pounds and gallons for their roots in the sizes of real, everyday things. I propose a middle ground, in which we use the metric measurements and a base of 10, yet incorporate the historical names for familiar sizes. Thus, we'll have meters, but a foot can be exactly one-quarter (or one-third) of a meter. A pound can be half a kilo. A gallon can be 5 (or 4) litres.

I incorporate my middle ground idea into date usage. In writing I usually use the 15 April 2010 format, in speech I always say April 15th, and when labeling things like photo collections I use 2010-04-15, since year is most relevant for retrieving archives, then month, then day.

I agree there's no real right or wrong, but I still get confused when I hear people say "our daughter's birthday is on 25 July". There are 12 "25's" in the year, but only one July.

 

[Drifterwood]

Today is Saturday.

Today is Saturday, 16th January, 2010.

Today is January 16th.

We also mix up the way we present our names.

Hi, my name is Bond, James Bond.

 

[Mastur]

So by the same logic, do you suppose when you give the time, you should provide seconds, minutes, and then the hour?
E.G noon being 00:00:12 rather than 12:00:00?
Now noon on August 18th, 2009 will 00:00:12 18/08/2009!

Well now, such a comment is to be expected from someone living in fantasyland... ;-D

 

[Mastur]

I appreciate that you have been teaching us how to play the game for the last twenty years, Sneaky, but whose fucking game is it in the first place?

Australia two hundred before lunch , how many stubbies have you had?

Ahahahahaha! You tell him, D-Wood!

 

[Mastur]

Yes. I believe that the Japanese demonstrated that quite effectively.

Ouch...!

 

[Mastur]

So far this has been thoroughly the most enjoyable thread in a while!

 

[Deno]

ah so 9/11 never really happened it was 11/9.

 

[D_Kissimmee Coldsore]

Sorry this is how I learned to do it and I've had people try to correct me..
Today is...
19 August, 2009
The logic for me is it's the 19th of August 2009!

Don't apologise for overcoming the prevalent daftness.

Incidentally the date is currently 2455213.28059.

 

[Mem]

ah so 9/11 never really happened it was 11/9.

...and now those foreigners want us to dial 119 for emergencies. :wink:

 

[HazelGod]

Actually, the current date and time is now 1263678345.