Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?

[eyoungren]

Returning to the pub subject, it is interesting that pints are still used in the US and UK, here in French-speaking Switzerland we ask for a "cannette" which is 500 ml rather than a pint.

Except in America, if you start speaking 'pints' people will assume you're talking about milk.

 

[960design]

On a recent deployment abroad, a deployment that took place in the Balkans, which lies in Europe, while working with with an international organisation (an organisation that is headquartered in Warsaw, also found in Europe) a few American colleagues - complacently, cluelessly, and obliviously, I would say also arrogantly - insisted on using what is (to our minds, a largely European audience, in a European country) the perfectly idiotic, and illogical, US date unit system, which was, frankly, annoying, and tedious (it meant getting the day and date of meetings confused, actually, wrong, for example, as Europeans read this stuff quite differently).

Now, one or two US colleagues took the perfectly sensible view of "when in Europe, write the dates on formal reports, and when arranging meetings, as Europeans do", but several did not, which also ensured that any professional respect for them - and what they said and wrote - was considerably eroded and undermined.

As an American, I completely agree.
All dates should be written: YYYYMMDD
For example, today: 20241023

This enables proper sorting and progressively narrows the scope from left to right, aligning with the expected behavior of a fourth-dimensional reference.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The military uses it but most regular people don't understand what it is. I don't know anybody in Britain who uses it in normal conversation except Sergeant-Majors.

We don't generally use it in conversation I agree but its common to have clocks, watches and the like set to 24hr time.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

As an American, I completely agree.
All dates should be written: YYYYMMDD
For example, today: 20241023

This enables proper sorting and progressively narrows the scope from left to right, aligning with the expected behavior of a fourth-dimensional reference.

Well, my personal perspective is that all dates should be written in the European format - thus ranging from a small time period (days), to a large one(the year), one that can be read from left to right: In other words, DDMMYYYY.

 

[timber]

The military uses it but most regular people don't understand what it is. I don't know anybody in Britain who uses it in normal conversation except Sergeant-Majors.

Wouldn't that be a Warrant Officer?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

My iPhone displays 24hr format, and the date in the day/date/month format.

There a British comedian Stewart Lee who refers to 9/11 as the ‘9th of November’ as a funny play on how we read dates totally differently and how it doesn’t translate to us Brits lol.

 

[decafjava]

My iPhone displays 24hr format, and the date in the day/date/month format.

There a British comedian Stewart Lee who refers to 9/11 as the ‘9th of November’ as a funny play on how we read dates totally differently and how it doesn’t translate to us Brits lol.

Mine as well, however since I work with Americans I do a lot of "translating" which can be confusing except with any number higher than 12 which can't be a month.

 

[GrayFlannel]

I’m not following the date format issue within a business. It’s hardly an issue unless you’re new to it.

Customer facing documents such as invoices conform to the customer’s local format.
Customer correspondences such as emails/and letters should have the month spelled out.

For intra-office communications your company will decide what happens as it will be embedded within the corporate software. If you work for a US company and reside in London, suck it up because the golden rule rules. The same thing is true if you reside in the US working for a company in the Netherlands. Be prepared to adjust because the universe does not orbit around you.

Small businesses can wing it.

 

[Chuckeee]

The military uses it but most regular people don't understand what it is. I don't know anybody in Britain who uses it in normal conversation except Sergeant-Majors.

Mostly but just to add to the confusion there is Ship Bell Time that was used (still used?) by the Navy. Just because the Navy likes going their own way.

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[Macky-Mac]

Except in America, if you start speaking 'pints' people will assume you're talking about milk.

I wouldn't be surprised if most Americans would have to ask "of what?" if you started speaking about pints.

 

[xJustxMegx]

There is something else besides the metric system?

 

[JT2002TJ]

I wouldn't be surprised if most Americans would have to ask "of what?" if you started speaking about pints.

Ice Cream of course...

 

[eyoungren]

There is something else besides the metric system?

I lay out and edit yardage books, pinsheets and scorecards for golf courses every day. With the exception of a handful of courses everything is done in inches, feet and yards.

And those golf course that do use metric, do so in ADDITION to the standard. So, now there's two of each. And believe it or not, the majority of those courses that do use metric are in South America.

 

[960design]

Well, my personal perspective is that all dates should be written in the European format - thus ranging from a small time period (days), to a large one(the year), one that can be read from left to right: In other words, DDMMYYYY.

My only complaint with DDMMYYYY is the sorting issue.
Which comes first?
01011110
21122121
01102021
You must read RTL, which to me is unnatural; attempting to sort 100 such dates via simple sort can easily introduce bugs.

When writing the date, I always use 23 Oct 2023, to prevent confusion.

 

[xJustxMegx]

I always use YM/YDMY/YD when I write down a date, today is.

21/0202/43

 

[Apple fanboy]

My only complaint with DDMMYYYY is the sorting issue.
Which comes first?
01011110
21122121
01102021
You must read RTL, which to me is unnatural; attempting to sort 100 such dates via simple sort can easily introduce bugs.

When writing the date, I always use 23 Oct 2023, to prevent confusion.

Does finder not have a sort by date option. Easy enough to use without having to write the date backwards.

 

[GrayFlannel]

Well, my personal perspective is that all dates should be written in the European format - thus DDMMYYYY.

Of course you do but DMY isn’t easily ordered.
Hence ISO is the best functional date format.
Ordering when the date is a true date data type works fine.
Ordering when the date is an integer works fine.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Does finder not have a sort by date option. Easy enough to use without having to write the date backwards. View attachment 2440967

the problem with sorting by "Date Modified" is that when you open a file and modify it, then afterwards it will have a new position in the list.

 

[Corefile]

Wouldn't that be a Warrant Officer?

You have to be born and raised in Britain to get the connection.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Wouldn't that be a Warrant Officer?

Generally, Warrant Officer is a rank and Sergeant Major is an appointment.

 

[splifingate]

There is something else besides the metric system?

16 variations, of course

 

[Nermal]

Well, my personal perspective is that all dates should be written in the European format - thus ranging from a small time period (days), to a large one(the year), one that can be read from left to right: In other words, DDMMYYYY.

That works until you add times to the mix. Everyone agrees that times should be written from least frequently changing on the left, to most frequently changing on the right, i.e. hh:mm:ss.

Logically, dates should work the same way.

Meanwhile something that really messed with my brain was Japanese TV scheduling. "This is on at 25:20." That means that it's at 1:20 the following morning, but they don't expect you to have slept yet.

 

[jz0309]

My only complaint with DDMMYYYY is the sorting issue.
Which comes first?
01011110
21122121
01102021
You must read RTL, which to me is unnatural; attempting to sort 100 such dates via simple sort can easily introduce bugs.

When writing the date, I always use 23 Oct 2023, to prevent confusion.

yup, back in the days 20+ years back I started to use
19990115
20001030
and such, sorted perfectly, by date.
Of course nowadays with tools like Teams etc that is not needed anymore

 

[jz0309]

Does finder not have a sort by date option. Easy enough to use without having to write the date backwards. View attachment 2440967

that doesn't always work, esp when working on different versions of the same file, eg when opening an "older" file and then accidentally saving it on exit, the date modified gets updated ... but, for me using like 20070420 is a very old but trustworthy method

 

[GrayFlannel]

That works until you add times to the mix. Everyone agrees that times should be written from least frequently changing on the left, to most frequently changing on the right, i.e. hh:mm:ss.

Logically, dates should work the same way.

Meanwhile something that really messed with my brain was Japanese TV scheduling. "This is on at 25:20." That means that it's at 1:20 the following morning, but they don't expect you to have slept yet.

If date and times are importantly then timestamp is the way to go. And in ISO.