Subject: date formats

hello , this is a query about the different ways in which dates can be expressed in different languages , and whether there are constraints that apply in relation to register ( eg formal , informal , etc ) , genre ( magazine , newspaper , personal vs business letter , etc ) , historical , instrumental ( format of calendars ) , nationality , etc . my initial impressions are the following . as far the english speaking world goes , in britain there is a variety of ways in which dates can be expressed in writing , including day month year ; day-ordinal month year ; month day , year ; month day-ordinal , year . interestingly , this variety is not found in numerical form , in which ` day / month / year ' is expected . note that the separators vary , the most common being the slash ( / ) , others being the dash ( - ) , the period ( . ) and the blank space ( ) . in the other formats in which words are used , only the ` month ' slot can be spelled out , with days and years being expressed in numbers . variations include the use of ` the ' preceding ordinal day numbers . sometimes one can find different formats being used in different parts of the same publication , eg the header and the report in a newspaper . this seems to be in contrast with the usa where ` month day , year ' seems to predominate whatever the situation , even when expressed numerically as in 1 / 7 / 95 which is normally read by americans as the seventh day of the month of january , whereas the british would take it to mean the first day of the month of july , which is a 6 - month difference . apparently , the americans are the only ones to adopt month / day / year . someone once told me this is an old format which came into being as a result of the fact that , in looking for today 's date , one would look in a calendar first of all for the current month , with the year being taken for granted . any ideas ? what 's the norm in other languages / dialects , etc ? thanks in advance , tony - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - tony berber sardinha | tony1 @ liverpool . ac . uk aelsu | fax 44-51 - 794-2739 university of liverpool | po box 147 | http : / / www . liv . ac . uk / liverpool l69 3bx | ~ tony1 / homepage . html uk | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
