When you see this date 11-10-09 – What day is it? Your response tells me a little about where you’re probably from.
To Americans, it’s obvious and in common culture – universal. November 10th, 2009. Everyone knows that dates are formatted mm-dd-yy.
Italians (and 65% of the world population) would see it as 11 October 2009. They use dd-mm-yy. The remaining 30% of the world sees it as September 10th, 2011 using yy-mm-dd.
So how can 11-10-09 represent dates in three different months – September, October, and November? Why the discrepancy over something so simple and universal?
The ISO (International Standards Organization) standard #8601 defines yyyy mm dd as the proper way to format dates. Does anyone listen?
Less than 5% of the world’s population uses the style adopted by America. Along with the USA are other world powerhouses: Philippines, Malaysia, Somalia, Togo, Panama, Puerto Rico (did we apply some influence there?), Cayman Islands, Greenland, Kenya and Ghana.
Americans align with how they speak. They say “we gained our independence on July 4th, 1776”. Others are more logical, and numerical – big things (the year) first. Italians live for the day, thus giving it the most prominent first position.
