• martinb@lemmy.sdf.org
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    3 months ago

    Try this…

    "What date is it today? "

    “Today is the 31st”

    “31st of what?”

    “The 31st of August”

    “…?”

    “Today is Saturday the 31st of August, 2024”

    Etc.

    See. It works even more so

    • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      “Today is Saturday the 31st of August, 2024”

      No one says that in the US like that lol. Like say that sentence out loud, that’s so long and exhausting and stilted for no reason. If my friend said the date to me like that, i would think they were upset about something or being weird. We’d automatically switch it over and say “August 31st, 2024,” or even “8/31/24” because when people ask for that date while writing a check, for instance, they are going to write it numerically anyway.

      Idk what’s the point of your argument. To gaslight me in how everyday Americans talk?

      “31st of what?”

      You had to invite the other speaker in this scenario to mirror your format before they’d actually imitate the stilted way of saying “31st of August.” Not even in your fantasies do Americans talk like that naturally.

      I’m not even saying we SHOULD keep it that way - it makes things confusing at times. Just that common use has kept it ordered this way.

      • brianary@startrek.website
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        3 months ago

        I wouldn’t even notice it as unusual, even though it isn’t my usual order. It could vary by region or profession, or maybe it’s just you that notices it this acutely. In plain English emails and other narrative text, I always use “Sat Aug 31” (adding the year only when ambiguous), which is short but complete, and includes the day of the week, which is much more important to humans than the month anyway.