ANSWERS: 4
  • If you write numbers from greatest value to least value (z.B. 123 = one hundred twenty-three), then the way that makes the most sense to write the date is YEAR-MO-DY. Americans traditionally write MO-DY-YEAR, and almost all of the rest of the world traditionally writes DY-MO-YEAR. Neither of those follow the standard convention for writing numerical values. Early American settlers wrote the name of the month with cardinal day of the month and four-digit year, for example "10th April 1865," and, because of the way it was written, the order in which the information appeared was not important. In other words, whether you wrote "April 10th 1865," "10th April 1865," "1865 April 10th," "1865 10th April" or whatever, it didn't change the way the date was understood. With the advent of the telegraph, people started thinking about ways to communicate more quickly, which led to abbreviations of many words and more standardization of language based around being as clear as possible with meaning whilst being as succinct as possible with length. Since telegraph developed in the USA independently from the rest of the world, two different formats were used for the date. And since the USA has remained relatively culturally isolated from the rest of the world (other than Canada and Mexico), there has been little pressure from within the nation to adopt a different format than the one that already gained a foothold.
  • Maybe the rest of the world writes it in reverse.
  • I don't know, my own birthday doesn't look right when it's written 11/15.
  • That's because it makes perfect sense to say that my answer was given on April 6, 2020 or 4/6/2020 and not backwards to say: I have answered this question on 6 April, 2020.
    • Jenny The Great ⭐
      BTW, I am a European who got educated in America. Dayum, I'm great!

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy