Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 7236

Can anyone answer this question

I know we do things differently to Amercia in alot of areas, but one that has confused me for a while is the date.

Over here and in Europe we do Day/Month/Year

You guys do Month/Day/Year

Does anyone no the origins of this difference?

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sp00ky
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Disclaimer
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I am not expecting to change anything by this post other than awareness. Please do not take anything I say as fact, I am only relaying opinon of limited sources, who themselves know nothing and thus should also be ignored as heresay and could never be admissable in a court of law.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

Also the steering wheel/traffic thing.

You'd think that it'd be a little more uniform.

DM

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choosy mothers choose evil

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Albany, NY
Posts: 182

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Error 404: The funny cannot be found.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beatrice, Nebraska
Posts: 18816

We're pretty liberal on that, I think.



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Have a good day, and if you feel like subjecting your genitals to high doses of x-ray radiation I'm sure the world will kindly thank you.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: State of Denial
Posts: 1468

I was wondering something.

On your windows start key right there in the bottom left hand corner when you click it and go to "favorites" is it spelled "favourites"?



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"Turn your back on me and make believe that you're always happy."

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Essex, England
Posts: 4523

quote:

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Originally posted by Stellar:
I was wondering something.

On your windows start key right there in the bottom left hand corner when you click it and go to "favorites" is it spelled "favourites"?

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No its written the dirty American way



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If girls are made of sugar and spice, then why do they taste of fish?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: ...
Posts: 228

os. it's because here we say may 3rd, not 'the third of may'. it's a convention of speach that made its way into the written language. who knows...maybe we just wanted to be different from our ancestors

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: State of Denial
Posts: 1468

quote:

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Originally posted by Rav:
No its written the dirty American way

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Essex, England
Posts: 4523

quote:

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Originally posted by Stellar:
ohh ok you mean the *correct* way!

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: GA
Posts: 6969

i like the difference in lingo.
i also love the honesty and devotion my limey friends have to friendships.
they rock.


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"Brains are an asset to the woman in love who's smart enough to hide 'em."- Mae West

[This message has been edited by Princess_Chelle (edited 03-31-2001).]

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: New Jersey. USA
Posts: 670

quote:

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Originally posted by Spooky:

Does anyone no the origins of this difference?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 4501

I've almost always written it dd/mm/yy, but it makes more sense to me that way, since the date is what is really distinguished in most cases. I guess I've been employed too long.

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Deny closure. Honor ambiguity.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Oakland-ish
Posts: 6032

As quaint as the differences are, they do drive me nuts sometimes.

I grew up in the States, but have spent the last 16 years in Canada, where we pretty much follow the same rules as the Brits.

I am totally used to the month/day/year mode.
But here they use day/month/year. So when filling out documents or reading things I have to take that extra time to sort the numbers. Sometimes it's easy, knowing that there is no 14th month, but when I have a date like 01/05/01, it makes me pause. I also have to deal with metric conversions, I still have no idea how fast I am driving most the time, just how hot or cold it is outside, how many millimetres to an inch or how many cups in a litre. I have to remember to spell theater "theatre", center "centre", check (as in pay check) "cheque" and color "colour". Adding to my confusion is the fact that as a child I moved frequently between the U.S. and Canada and just to be rebellious in school I would use one country's spellings in the other country. The kids also say here their are in grade 10 instead of saying the 10th grade. Oh yeah, and while we don't use it like the Europeans do, I will never understand the 24 hour clock thing. EVER! I have heard all the tricks but I just do not know what 1600 hours is. (anyone remember the brilliant scene in Spinal Tap with the time conversions?)

Anyhow, maybe if we could all convert to Esperanto, I hear it is VERY universal

/me has gone back to bed, this thread has made her brain hurt.



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"if you never take it seriously, you never get hurt and if you never get hurt you always have fun"

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