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Why do Americans want to know the month first and the day second? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by NONE_dc@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.

What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?

EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:

I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.

So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.

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[–] Civil_Liberty@lemm.ee 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

If you name your files YEAR-MONTH-DAY_Filename they be in chronological order when sorted by the name field.

[–] krelvar@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

YYYYMMDD is the only correct answer.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 days ago (3 children)

That's not a good explanation for the question, because the convention was established before computers.

[–] Civil_Liberty@lemm.ee 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I answered the one question he posed. What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?

[–] Scipitie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

It sorts by what seems to me historically by relevance, i.e. which day is asked more often because it seems a more frequent timeframe for everyday use in a medieval society compared to the month (with the seasons as something in between those two).

And I agree that since the digital age yyyy-mm--dd has significant advantages!

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 days ago

My GP has cabinet with patient information.

The drawers are years, and then inside it narrows down to months. Probably the answer.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I mean it's easier to sort like that for humans too.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I don't think that's true; before computers people would get used to one way or another and it would have 0 impact on their ability to compare.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When you are searching for a file in a filing cabinet of a finance department, it'd be a nightmare if records were filed by month first and year after.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 hours ago

It sure would, which is why nobody does that. Just because the month is written first doesn't mean you sort by month first.