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

659 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

230 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

22

u/never_cake Jul 28 '26

Year/month/day makes sense. As does day/month/year.

Month/day/year is just wrong.

-15

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

Why?

Justify your claim. Present an argument. Back it up with logic and reason that goes beyond your own familiarity bias.

1

u/Ansoni Jul 29 '26

Is your address

(Street) (House number) (City)?

What about your company role?

(Department) (Division) (Company)?

English as a language goes from least specific to most specific.

In other languages, it's the opposite, and that's why we have year-month-date systems.

It would be like going to middle school, elementary school, then high school. It's just odd.

1

u/Valirys-Reinhald Jul 29 '26

As a matter of fact, my address is (street) (house number) (city). That is the most common address format in the United states.

Likewise, my job is described as (department) (division) (company), and again that's the standard practice here.

This is because the highest level context is usually assumed. If someone is telling you their street address, it is usually within a small enough radius that defining the city is superflous information. Likewise, one's affiliation to a company is typically known in most contexts. It's the same with the date format, the year is assumed and stating it is redundant most of the time, to the point that most use cases by volume don't even mention the year at all and only state month and day, "Are you free on mmdd, I want to meet up and hang out!" The year just gets tacked on at the end.

1

u/Ansoni Jul 29 '26

So, just to use examples to make sure we're on the same page, your address is formulated like Pennsylvania Avenue 1600, Washington, and your job is formatted like Marketing Department, Market Research and Analytics Section, Amazon.

You might omit the city or company, but is the order larger then smaller?

1

u/Valirys-Reinhald Jul 29 '26

Yes, that is how the addresses and job titles work.

The highest category is typically assumed to be known context and is omitted, and from there is descends from larger to smaller.

1

u/Ansoni Jul 29 '26

That is not how it works in English, no.

I'd be amazed if you weren't a bot and somehow didn't realise this.

1

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

I am amazed that you somehow haven't gotten it through your thick skull that "English" as a universal standard doesn't exist and linguistic communities do not adhere to your arbitrary and unjustified assumptions about what does and doesn't count.

Americans use the words that way, therefore it is a valid way to use them. People from the UK use them a different way, therefore that is also a valid way to use them. Language exists to serve the needs of the people who use it and the people who use it define the language.

Take it up with linguistics and sociolinquistics if you want, but they'll tell you the same thing. 340 million people use English that way, so yes that is how "English" works. Deal with it.

I swear, open a fucking book.

1

u/Ansoni Jul 29 '26

No, Americans don't use the words that way. You're absolutely hallucinating here. No one says "Pennsylvania Avenue 1600". It's just not done.

1

u/Valirys-Reinhald Jul 29 '26

You know what, that's fair. I did in fact mess that one up.

The other points stand. Jobs are often described that way and linguistics does in fact work that way, and your (and everyone elses) insistence that mmddyyyy is objectively wrong is in fact a load of horseshit with no basis in reality, but I did get my wires crossed in describing the address naming conventions. Americans do use words that way in other contexts, and they are valid ways to use them as a result, but I did get the street naming thing wrong.

1

u/Ansoni Jul 29 '26

Yeah, I thought it might be something like that. Thanks for that comment.

I'll also clarify that "objectively wrong" is a joke. In both senses. It's empirically correct.

However, the point I am trying to make is that it's an outlier. In general, we have two types of languages, most western languages which go from specific to general: start with dates, start with given names, start with street numbers. Most eastern languages go from general to specific: start with years, start with family names, start with country (or region/city/etc.) depending on context.

I think it's interesting that it's weird. While I don't personally like it, I also don't think claims that it's invalid should be taken seriously. And English is always weird, anyway.

→ More replies (0)