this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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Pi Day (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Coming from somewhere with the format the other way around, we do indeed say "23rd July" without all that extra fluff. So exactly the same efficiency wise. We simply count days like we'd count other stuff. For example I definitely didn't had my coffee fourth just now.

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

But "Coffee fourth"/"fourth coffee" and "23rd July"/"July 23rd" are different things. I don't think it's a good comparison.

With the coffees you are counting how many you've had. The thing being counted is explicitly stated in the phrase.

With dates, you are not counting the number of July's. This isn't my 23rd July, but the 23rd day of this July. The thing being counted is only implied by colloquial understanding.

So yes, "coffee fourth" doesn't work, but that doesn't have much bearing on how to say a date in my opinion

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You're right, but the same must be said for July 23rd. Both are abbreviating "day in the month of july" to a simple mention of the month.

At the end of the day both work, both are equally efficient, and simply come down to habit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, that's my thinking too. English, and language in general, is very fluid. Different regions will have different colloquialisms, and even different dialects of the same language. So long as we all understand what is meant does it really matter all that much how it was said?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

The funny thing is that both "July twenty-third" and "the twenty-third of July" are common in the US.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

“Cup of coffee” is a mess of a phrase if you start to actually think about it. In English, it’s genitive; in German, it’s accusative; in Spanish, it’s nominative.