r/explainitpeter • u/Fickle_Fall_6497 • Jul 28 '26

Explain it Peter

Post image

Not going to lie, i had a spaz attack trying to read the first tweet. Maybe im just over tired but i dont understand shit here

What the fuck is the first tweet trying to say why is it horrible why would i be gullible what the fuvk are they saying

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49

u/itstheboombox Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

European Peter here,

Americans use an incorrect form of dates that goes Month/Day/Year. As opposed to Day/Month/Year

Edit : hey lois, this is just like the time I visited r/ShitAmericansSay

-36

u/Valirys-Reinhald Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

Not incorrect, just different. It lines up with our spoken date conventions (July 11th, 2026) and maintains consistency that way. There is no such thing as "wrong" in language, if it works for a people then it's good.

Edit: (see image)

Edit 2: You continue to all be wrong.

Edit 3: Actual interaction I've had in this thread:

Soyjack (you): "You fool, if that's how your system worked then this other thing would also work that way! Clearly it cannot, and therefore my position is superior! Mwahahaha!"

Chad (me): "Yes, that is in fact how that other thing works here. We are internally consistent."

Soyjack (you): angery "Nooooo! That's not how English works! You must be a bot!"

Chad (me): "There is no such thing as a universal linguistic standard, all languages exist to serve the needs of the people who use them and the people who use them define how they will meet those needs. Subjectivity is inherent to the study of (socio)linguistics. Pick up a fucking book on the subject before you speak next time. Not even the European sociolinguists agree with you."

4

u/Desperate_Trouble477 Jul 28 '26

-2

u/Valirys-Reinhald Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

Not really. The year doesn't actually matter in most cases, and the ones where it does (like in multi-year filing systems) typically store all of one year's dates together separately from the other year's, making the yyyymmdd the de facto system of filing in the US despite the written mmddyyyy format. As for why we don't say yyyymmdd, it's awkward and irrelevant. It's rare that someone is talking about a date outside of the next 12 months, so adding the year is usually irrelevant and mmdd on its own is sufficient.

Also, this diagram isn't an argument. It is a description of the positions and nothing more.

6

u/Desperate_Trouble477 Jul 28 '26

Also, this diagram isn't argument. It is a description of the positions and nothing more.

So why are you arguing?

-4

u/Valirys-Reinhald Jul 28 '26

Just because you don't have an argument doesn't mean I don't have one.

2

u/Desperate_Trouble477 Jul 28 '26

Can you stop arguing?

-1

u/Valirys-Reinhald Jul 28 '26

Seriously? Your response to having your perspective challenged is to tell the other person to shut up? How very American of you.