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Why do Americans want to know the month first and the day second? (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

102 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense TO ME. Based on what I was taught, regardless of the month, I think what matters first is to know what day of the month you are in, if at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of said month. After you know that, you can find out the month to know where you are in the year.

What is the benefit of doing it the other way around?

EDIT: To avoid misunderstandings:

I am NOT making fun OF ANYONE.
I am NOT negatively judging ANYTHING.
I am totally open to being corrected and LEARN.
This post is out of pure and honest CURIOSITY.

So PLEASE, don't take it the wrong way.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

What you say is interesting. Having a way of organizing time that suits your needs. That's why I asked if there was any benefit in the way Americans (and apparently also Chinese) represent time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Interesting thing about how Chinese time is organized is locations are also stated big to small. Last names then first names etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Locations have a last name and a first name in Chinese?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

China's first name is actually Jim, believe it or not.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I mean the larger family name comes before the personal name. Implying a connection between number, place, and naming sequences

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Chinese is also weird imho. If I remember correctly, they put the details of an action first in a sentece and the verb that defines the action itself goes last with some exceptions.

Hungarian comes to my mind which is similar and always follows the context first, details later rule. They use "yyyy.mm.dd.", "family name first, given name last", "country, city, street, street number order for locations", and the word order of their grammar is similar too, details are always at the end of the sentence.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

You’re thinking of Japanese not Chinese. Chinese grammar is more similar to English.

That’s interesting about Hungarian though!