Date notation driving me nuts

[sandyk]

zsh-% date
Tue Apr 19 14:03:17 PDT 2016

 

My wife says stuff like "the twelfth of the third" and from that I am supposed to get "March 3rd". WTF?

 

No wonder the Brits lost their most important colony, the war of independence for which began on the nineteenth of the fourth.

 

No, you are supposed to get the 12th of March.

[sandyk]

You know what drives me nuts?

People who don't list their location.

If I knew your location, then I would know what date notation to use. I would know if you are running on 50 or 60 hz. I would know if you are 120V or whatever.....

 

+1

[sandyk]

When I lived in Cambridge, I really noticed this problem, because we have to date our lab books, reagents, and so forth. I found the only way to come with it was to write "19 April 1996" or whatever, i.e., spell out the month explicitly. My wife (from there) has lived here nearly 20 years, and she still can't adjust to it. I doubt I could do any better living in Europe or the rest of the world where they do this. (Kind of makes one wonder how a bunch of Saudis recognized the significance of 9/11.)

 

Many people worldwide probably get the 9/11 one wrong ?

[sandyk]

Of course, because you weren't brought up using the metric system and probably don't use it on a daily basis. In the many countries that switched from the English system of measurements to metric, it took many a long time to adapt and others never did and never will. But, for anyone who starts off by learning it, the metric system is obviously much simpler and less prone to mistakes, as in converting ounces to pounds, yards to miles, etc.

 

I still have problems, even after all these years, thinking in metric terms for height and weight.

It's different with regularly used items such as food at the supermarket, and petrol at the service station.