Why do Americans write the date oddly?

For a start, I'm English so I do the date thing the right way around.

This is very hard to describe.

The maximum months can go up to is 12.

The maximum days can go up to is 31.

The maximum years can go up to is 9999.

It works in numerical order. The numbers ascend, rather than going by our system of day / month / year. I don't know why that system is supposed to be better.

Alyssa - Right, we start with a day, then a day becomes a month, then a month becomes a year.

This is all happening because the people at the top are afraid to admit that they've made a mistake. In washington, cover-up, not honesty, is the best policy. So they spread fear without cause in the hopes that the people will believe that they are doing something to protect them. In reality, they're just doing whatever they can to keep the prestige and paycheck of their office. It's time for change, but the people who can make a change can't get support because they have no money, and they can't get money because they won't twist and abuse the priveleges and responsibilities of their office to create legal loopholes for wealthy supporters. Can I get an amen?

We use dd/mm/yyyy in the military.

dd/mm/yyyy does sound more sensible, you're right. Sometimes I get confused, too, and write it that way. I honestly don't know why it's like that in America...I'm not complaining too much, though.

It has something to do with their independence from the British Empire. After the Americans went independent, they made a few changes, they drove carts on the right right of the road as opposed to the left, they dropped the "U" from certain words, and wrote the date differently

I think the abbreviated date forms come form speech. British say 'the thirtieth of November', hence 30.11.02. Whereas the Americans say 'November thirtieth', hence 11.30.02.

- We have a weird language [It's backwards and messed up]

- We have a weird measurement system [We don't use metric]

- We have a weird thermometer measurement [Fahrenheit]

- We have a weird form of date [Like you said]

Being an American, I don't know. I wish we did it the correct way like everyone else, though.

Just like the metric system, which nobody here thinks is a good idea besides me and 10 other people.

I know it always confuses me. I alway think something like "what are they stupid, there isn't a 16th month" when I read it before I realise it's a different, less logical way round. WHY put the month first?

Never thought about that. I'm so used to the way we write our dates.

I always wondered this, also, why must they incorrectly spell many words? They seem to have a real dislike of the letter 'u' in any given situation...