I really wonder how americans were able to fuck this one up. There are three ways to arrange these and two of them are acceptable!

Do people outside of the US not say dates like “June first” etc? M/D/Y matches that. It’s really not weird at all, even if the international ambiguity is awful.

Yes it is objectively weird.

When you write down “07/01/1967” are you unaware that it is unclear whether you’re referring to July 1st or January 7th?

And despite the fact that you’re writing something down for the express purpose of communicating information, and you’re choosing to shorten it’s written format to save time and space, you’re ok with either

a) just leaving it ambiguous and communicating poorly

or

b) having to write extra words to give it context, taking up more space than just writing out “July 1st, 1967”?

At a fundamental user experience level, it is nonsensical to choose the American date format when your goals are 1) communicating a date and 2) doing it shorter than writing out the words.

It’s not unclear to americans. “Objectively” is hilarious here. If it’s in the format people expect, then it’s perfectly fine in context. Sorry that US traditions don’t suit your fancy.

It’s definitely confusing in an international context, but well-estsblished conventions don’t change easily.

It’s not unclear to americans.

There are three options and Americans chose the dumbest and then defend it like there’s logic to it.

Oh wow, how on earth did I think a discussion with an American would come to this?

That’s how formats work, I hate to break it to you. The ambiguity sucks, but the format itself makes perfect sense given the way americans say dates.

The ambiguity sucks, but the format itself makes perfect sense given the way americans say dates.

My fucking god. Are you really this thick? We all say dates the same.

It’s *objectively *dumb because it’s the format that results in ambiguity. Again, the point that it’s good cause Americans are used to using it is a *subjective *criteria of the format, whereas the ambiguity is an objective one.

Only the combination of formats results in ambiguity. Neither format is ambiguous on its own.

Standardization is good, and if someone were to change it should probably be the US given the apparent worldwide consensus otherwise. That doesn’t make either format good or bad on its own.

What I take issue with is people acting like the US format is some kind of bizarro nonsense when it in fact makes perfect sense in terms of matching spoken dates. That is hardly a weird basis for a format.

Each has its tradeoffs, and which set of tradeoffs is better is a subjective matter. I agree that d/m/y makes the most sense for an international standard (if not y/m/d), but to claim that the US format itself is somehow objectively bad is silly.

What I take issue with is people acting like the US format is some kind of bizarro nonsense

It objectively is, and Ive explained why numerous times.

If you don’t have an argument beyond ‘it makes sense cause we’re used to it’, then you don’t have an argument about why one is better than the other, you have a weakass dodge the conversation feelgoodism. It is the textbook definition of a subjective criteria.

Learn how to be fucking wrong gracefully. Jesus Christ.

You haven’t explained what is objectively wrong other than you don’t like it. My argument is more than just being used to it, closely matching verbal convention is useful.