Sunday, August 19, 2012

Watch those dates!

As with weights and measures, there is no agreed to world standard for writing a date numerically.  In the US, the standard practice is MM/DD/YYYY.  Here in Australia, the standard practice is DD/MM/YYYY.

If the day happens to be greater than 12, 21/8/2012, then it is obvious the day is first.

If the day is the same as the month, 3/3/2012, no problem.

I get tricked up on things like 11/8/2012 - especially in the grocery store looking at expiration dates.  Here it is, August 20 and if I were to buy something that expires on November 8th, chances are I'll use it.  If I buy something that expires on August 11th, then I've made a mistake. 

There is no doubt in my mind people wonder why I stare so long at the dates on milk, cheese, etc.  "Auto date processing" hasn't yet kicked in on the DD/MM/YYYY practice for me.

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