Americanized date format

Americanized date format

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I see more and more correspondence from all sources that format the date as month then day then year.

so today is July 29 2013

has anyone else noticed this or am I just getting old and annoyed at everything?

Replies (58)

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By Steve Kesby
29th Jul 2013 17:17

Er...

... it's Americanised in British English!

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Replying to Manchester_man:
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By chatman
30th Jul 2013 08:21

ised?

Steve Kesby wrote:

... it's Americanised in British English!

Isn't it just "American"?

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By User deleted
30th Jul 2013 12:09

I blame Microsoft!

chatman wrote:
Steve Kesby wrote:

... it's Americanised in British English!

Isn't it just "American"?

Also, isn't it just English? We don't need prefix. it's our language - it's only those borrowing it that do!

Incidentally, slightly off topic, on going row came to ahead over breakfast.

I say patently obvious, wife says blatently obvious, she claims her research says she is right. Mine says either, although context affects it and blatently is used if you want to show disapproval, such as "it was blatently obvious he was driving too fast" and patently is more general and indicates stupidity such as "it is patently obvious the door opened outward"

Dinner's going to be fun :o)

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Replying to PALacc:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
30th Jul 2013 12:19

disk and disc

I was told that disk is short for diskette (R.I.P.) whereas disc is for hard disc.

Never heard blatently in that context before. By the way, isn't it blatantly? I recommend that you correct your wife on both counts. She'll thank you in the end.

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Replying to PALacc:
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By User deleted
31st Jul 2013 16:52

Blatantéz-vous

Old Greying Accountant wrote:

I say patently obvious, wife says blatently obvious, she claims her research says she is right. Mine says either, although context affects it and blatently is used if you want to show disapproval, such as "it was blatently obvious he was driving too fast" and patently is more general and indicates stupidity such as "it is patently obvious the door opened outward"

 

Maybe your wife does actually always disapprove of you?! It would be blatantly in all situations then, wouldn't it? At least when speaking with her anyway...

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Replying to johnt27:
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By User deleted
31st Jul 2013 17:04

Yes ...

BananaMan wrote:

Old Greying Accountant wrote:

I say patently obvious, wife says blatently obvious, she claims her research says she is right. Mine says either, although context affects it and blatently is used if you want to show disapproval, such as "it was blatently obvious he was driving too fast" and patently is more general and indicates stupidity such as "it is patently obvious the door opened outward"

 Maybe your wife does actually always disapprove of you?! It would be blatantly in all situations then, wouldn't it? At least when speaking with her anyway...

... that is probably it!

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Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
29th Jul 2013 17:25

Yes

... to both of your questions!

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By blok
29th Jul 2013 17:41

.

steve - I know

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Replying to Duggimon:
By Steve Kesby
29th Jul 2013 23:26

Yes

blok wrote:

steve - I know

I did wonder!

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By vicspaine
29th Jul 2013 21:23

Yes--- You can reformat the date

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By Sherman Holter
29th Jul 2013 23:39

We invented it

American tourist to plummy English hotel porter : "Hey buddy, where's the elevator?"

Porter to American tourist : "I assume you mean the lift sir?"

Tourist to porter : "Listen buddy, I'm from the USA and we invented the elevator"

Porter to tourist : "Well, with respect sir, I'm from England and we invented the language"

Moral is : As long as we keep laughing about the differences, rather than grinding our teeth, we'll be able to keep some head space for far more important issues.  I was thinking about this earlier as I came down from my apartment in the elevator and crossed the sidewalk to my automobile.......................

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Woolpit Gus
By nutwood
30th Jul 2013 06:57

and then there's 'that'

My wife is in the IT world where it seems that use of the date in US format is universal along with program (programme) and disk (disc).  What really bugs me though is the demise of 'who' and 'which' in favour of 'that' in all circumstances.

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By User deleted
30th Jul 2013 09:43

Microsoft Programming 'Culture' .....

Think you have problems - look at this lot

Microsoft Cultureen-AUEnglish - Australia0x0C09ENAen-BZEnglish - Belize0x2809ENLen-CAEnglish - Canada0x1009ENCen-CBEnglish - Caribbean0x2409 en-IEEnglish - Ireland0x1809ENIen-JMEnglish - Jamaica0x2009ENJen-NZEnglish - New Zealand0x1409ENZen-PHEnglish - Philippines0x3409 en-ZAEnglish - South Africa0x1C09ENSen-TTEnglish - Trinidad and Tobago0x2C09ENTen-GBEnglish - United Kingdom0x0809ENGen-USEnglish - United States0x0409ENUen-ZWEnglish - ZimbabweEnglish - Zimbabwe 

 

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By chatman
30th Jul 2013 09:49

Irish English?

Is this Microsoft's way of trying to convince themselves that everyone speaks a simplified form of English, not just the US?

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By User deleted
30th Jul 2013 10:13

Irish Roots - song ....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xkw8ip43Vk

 

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By User deleted
30th Jul 2013 12:24

Probably ...

blatant - more haste and all that jazz - the month end is nigh! So many accounts to file, so many payments on account to adjust!!

If thanking involves my head and a frying pan or rolling pin you're probably right!

 

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By The Innkeeper
30th Jul 2013 12:48

My wife

has changed my name to Victor (Meldrew) but what I really get worked up about is 'upcoming'

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By chatman
30th Jul 2013 15:48

Upcoming

The Innkeeper wrote:

what I really get worked up about is 'upcoming'

I thought it was only me. The AWeb policy on swearing prevents me from adequately expressing my feelings about use of the non-existent word "upcoming"

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Big Daddy's Diner
By mookgirluk
30th Jul 2013 13:22

American English is old English

Most of what we consider Americanisations of the English language are in fact the original 'old' English.   We've just evolved our version of English over the years and the Americans are still using parts of the one they inherited.

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Replying to Glennzy:
By Steve Kesby
30th Jul 2013 13:26

No!

mookgirluk wrote:

Most of what we consider Americanisations of the English language are in fact the original 'old' English.   We've just evolved our version of English over the years and the Americans are still using parts of the one they inherited.

Noah Webster purposely bastardised it to suit the simple folk in the new homeland.

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By User deleted
30th Jul 2013 13:36

Found this ...

... might be of interest!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796

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By User deleted
30th Jul 2013 14:51

The wonders of the internet ...

... someone posts a comment that it is mere speculation ...

... and 24 hours later 50 million people believe it to be an incontrovertible fact! (as ironically this will now be!!).

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By chatman
30th Jul 2013 16:02

English people speaking American

To be honest, I don't have a problem with Americans speaking American; what really irritates me is English people doing it. It is as stupid as throwing unnecessary French words into your conversation.

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Replying to Counting numbers:
Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
30th Jul 2013 17:01

What about Latin?

chatman wrote:

To be honest, I don't have a problem with Americans speaking American; what really irritates me is English people doing it. It is as stupid as throwing unnecessary French words into your conversation.

Where would we be without the status quo (ante)?

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x
By rockallj
30th Jul 2013 16:51

Mais oui, I agree

Mais oui I agree, Dudes!

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By Steve Kesby
30th Jul 2013 17:00

If you want to annoy work colleagues...

... refer to Google as "Le Google", and say thing like, "Je Google, Googléz-vous?" whenever you get opportunity.

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By Steve Kesby
30th Jul 2013 17:03

good point Euan

Veni, vidi, googli.

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Replying to Mott the Hoople:
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By chatman
30th Jul 2013 17:08

More Latin

Steve Kesby wrote:

Veni, vidi, googli.

Not acceptable. I came I saw I googled.

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By chatman
30th Jul 2013 17:07

Latin
The Chatman rules of etiquette dictate that foreign words are only permissible when there are no adequate alternatives. In any case, I understand that 60% of English comes from Latin, so to the extent that it has become English, it is not really a foreign language.

In addition, putting on a foreign accent when using foreign words is the only acceptable reason for the reintroduction of the death penalty.

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By Mouse007
30th Jul 2013 17:41

Wrong way round

Should be

 

I googled, I Saw, I ...

 

 

 

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By User deleted
31st Jul 2013 15:21

I don't mind ...

... new words in English, it is after all a [***] language and if we don't have a word for something we steal it from someone else.

I do however object to having perfectly good words replaced with inferior ones, and using American words is frequently akin using pre-school language in a board room.

 

 

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By RR-80
31st Jul 2013 15:15

it's not just the dates!

I've noticed that in exam papers the questions incorporate $ instead of £.....

 

Also, isn't it annoying to refer to a Balance Sheet as a Statement of Financial Position?!!!

 

Grrrr is a Balance Sheet! ....less of a mouthful, how do you abbreviate the latter? SOFP vs BS

 

...it's BS in more ways than one!!!

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By Sherman Holter
01st Aug 2013 08:22

@bananaman : There's another one!

Here's another example of the American way:  Bananaman wrote :-

It would be blatantly in all situations then, wouldn't it? At least when speaking with her anyway...

We always used to speak TO people but, in the last few years, we've started speaking WITH them.  It's only a matter of time before our morning greeting to workmates (or should I say co-workers now?) is "Howdy Doody Y'all!"

 

 

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Replying to grahambonds:
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By User deleted
01st Aug 2013 09:18

With

Sherman Holter wrote:

Here's another example of the American way:  Bananaman wrote :-

It would be blatantly in all situations then, wouldn't it? At least when speaking with her anyway...

We always used to speak TO people but, in the last few years, we've started speaking WITH them.  It's only a matter of time before our morning greeting to workmates (or should I say co-workers now?) is "Howdy Doody Y'all!"

Surely speaking with someone is more inclusive and friendly, and shows that it's a two-way process? Infinitely better than speaking at someone which some might prefer to do. After all, you have a conversation with someone.... 

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By chatman
01st Aug 2013 09:30

Attempts to "improve" English

Flash Gordon wrote:
Surely speaking with someone is more inclusive and friendly, and shows that it's a two-way process? Infinitely better than speaking at someone which some might prefer to do. After all, you have a conversation with someone.... 

If by "to" you meant "at", I would agree with you. Otherwise I am happy to accept the normal meaning of "talking to" which means pretty much "having a conversation with"

I know people who use the word "yous" to compensate for the absence in English of a second person plural, but I still don't think it is correct.

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Routemaster image
By tom123
01st Aug 2013 09:02

Best of both worlds

If you work for a Canadian firm you can get 'Americanisms' and French in the same email.

I am happy to 'receive' in the language of the sender (I give you vacation) but always tend to reply in my way (holiday).

I have to say that I have now fully converted to Accounts Receivable (AR) Accounts Payable (AP) and General Ledger (GL). It took a while, but I think I would struggle to go back to sales, purchase & nominal etc.

I agree that Statement of Financial Position is hideous - we don't use that (yet)

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By chatman
01st Aug 2013 09:32

Off Topic

I know it has no place in a thread about Americanisms but can I have a quick rant about the recently fashionable, and apparently ubiquitous use of "nuanced".

Rant over. Thank you.

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By Penfold
01st Aug 2013 09:42

I don't know

Can you ?

Rant over

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By andrew.hyde
01st Aug 2013 10:41

Patently obvious and blatantly obvious...

...are both wrong IMHO as they are tautological.

The word 'obvious' doesn't usually need any qualification or reinforcement.  It is perfectly good on its own.

The only word that properly belongs with 'obvious' is of course 'bleedin' (cf. Basil Fawlty - 'my wife has a masters degree in the bleedin' obvious')

 

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Replying to Euan MacLennan:
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By User deleted
01st Aug 2013 13:59

I think ...

andrew.hyde wrote:

...are both wrong IMHO as they are tautological.

The word 'obvious' doesn't usually need any qualification or reinforcement.  It is perfectly good on its own.

The only word that properly belongs with 'obvious' is of course 'bleedin' (cf. Basil Fawlty - 'my wife has a masters degree in the bleedin' obvious')

 

... you miss the point, being that it is a deliberate redundant qualification to hammer the point through a solid bone skull that it is so bleedin' obvious!

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Routemaster image
By tom123
01st Aug 2013 11:12

Mind you - we can create some awful phrases on our own.

Reading the Sunday Times magazine recently - I see that clothes don't get bought or purchased - they get curated into collections (admittedly by 'stores' rather than shops)

You don't have trousers - you have trouser

You don't have lipstick - you have lip - as in 'with a red lip'.

So, we don't really need any help to muck up the language do we.

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By chatman
01st Aug 2013 11:26

@tom123 - Interesting choice of reading material

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Replying to stecartlidge:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
01st Aug 2013 12:15

Hey

I've started noticing on American programmes that the normal greeting between people is "Hey". That's it. Just "Hey". Not even "Hiya".

At least over here we manage a few more syllables when greeting each other. Even the lower orders manage "alright, how's it going?". Of course, us patricians in the corner office greet each other with "Good morning, how are you today?".

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By User deleted
01st Aug 2013 12:59

Surely ...

... good morrow fine sir, how art thou this splendiferous morn - I trust your peregrination was without mishap?

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Replying to Marion Hayes:
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By chatman
01st Aug 2013 15:04

My New Greeting

Old Greying Accountant wrote:

... good morrow fine sir, how art thou this splendiferous morn - I trust your peregrination was without mishap?

Brilliant. That's what I'm going to be saying from now on.

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By Tree
01st Aug 2013 14:37

Specific
Again a bit off topic, but what really frustrates me is the often used 'pacific' instead of 'specific'. It is becoming such a regular occurrence that I'm sure it will soon make its way into the dictionary. I remember cringing as a junior when one of the partners gave a talk to some of our clients once and repeatedly used 'pacific' in error.

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By User deleted
01st Aug 2013 16:41

What people don't realise ...

... is that by using long-winded sentances for greetings and formalities, you buy your self thinking time so when you get to the point you don't spout forth a load of bilge!

The old "engage brain before opening mouth" type thing!

There appears to me a noticable correlation such that the fewer and simpler the words used, the greater the amount of inanities asserted.

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By Sherman Holter
01st Aug 2013 17:27

@Red Leader

Remember today in a year's time, when everyone in your office will be greeting you with "Hey".

It'll happen!

 

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Replying to NH:
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By User deleted
01st Aug 2013 19:22

But ...

Sherman Holter wrote:

Remember today in a year's time, when everyone in your office will be greeting you with "Hey".

It'll happen!

 

... there's only me :o)

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By David Treitel
01st Aug 2013 23:41

I am unclear what is the

I am unclear what is the objection to using the date format used by the most populated English speaking country.  It also makes it far easier to understand American tax returns incidentally!

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