| Chris Rance | 07 Dec 2009 1:39 p.m. PST |
I seem to be hearing more and more dates on TV (CNN mainly but not exclusively) expressed in the format <month, cardinal> such as "December sixteen" as opposed to "December the sixteenth". To me it is ugly and lazy and I am disinclined to accept it from my students; I am, however, a linguistic dinosaur and one of the last bastions in the TEFL world here who believe in such distinctions as that between "I needn't have done it" and I didn't need to do it", which I have been frequently told no longer exists (it does for me). This tends to make me dismiss things that may be on the verge of becoming or have already become perfectly acceptable modern usage elsewhere in the world. So, is this an acceptable North American form? Or any other for that matter? My students are picking up on it, and I'd like to be able to tell them whether this is just another case of journalese or an accurate reflection of a trend. Many thanks, Chris |
 Parzival  | 07 Dec 2009 2:02 p.m. PST |
Not around here (the American South). It's "December Seventh." Maybe it's a Yankee thing, like the execrable "Youse guys." Y'all know them durn fools can't talk right.  |
 John the OFM | 07 Dec 2009 2:38 p.m. PST |
I never use it, and I am in the Northeast. |
aecurtis  | 07 Dec 2009 5:02 p.m. PST |
It surely is not a Yankee-ism. If you've been in the military, you might be inclined to *say* "sixteen December oh-nine", but you would write it in numerals: 16 Dec 09. Or use a Julian date…  Allen |
| dmclellan | 07 Dec 2009 6:12 p.m. PST |
Don't finger point at the damn Yankees, CNN is based in Atlanta. |
| Jay Arnold | 07 Dec 2009 8:57 p.m. PST |
Allen, much to my annoyance, the mean green machine is going to expressing dates as YYYYMMDD. Such as 20091207. Bah. And dropping the "0" from the front of single-digit when expressing as DDMMMYY such as 7DEC09. Bah. |
| willthepiper | 07 Dec 2009 10:20 p.m. PST |
I actually like the YYYYMMDD format. If entered into a spreadsheet, it is a snap to sort by date, which is never a guarantee with other date formats. Plus, when I see dates in the XX/YY/ZZ format, I'm never certain if it is in the (mostly American) MM/DD/YYYY format or the (European)DD/MM/YYYY format. |
| Chris Rance | 08 Dec 2009 2:32 a.m. PST |
Thanks Gentlemen My students will be duly informed … |
| timlillig | 08 Dec 2009 7:17 a.m. PST |
I would consider it normal usage to say December Sixteenth. Saying December Sixteen is something that only news announcers say in my experience. Probably someone decided that "th" at the end of words does not sound good over TV. |
| Jay Arnold | 08 Dec 2009 9:28 a.m. PST |
I understand the utility of YYYYMMDD, but do not like seeing it expressed in narratives of reports. |
| aecurtis | 08 Dec 2009 9:29 a.m. PST |
I'm sure not going to put it on correspondence! (But then I'm unlikely to be working for the Green Machine again!) Allen |
| Ed Mohrmann | 08 Dec 2009 9:50 a.m. PST |
Wouldn't 'December Sixteen' be the 16th December in a
series of Decembers ? That, I feel, is a valid interpretation of the phrase… |
| pmwalt | 08 Dec 2009 1:35 p.m. PST |
Journalistic laziness. It could be either 16 December or December 16th, but not December 16. As far as using YYYYMMDD, it's quite a convenient format for saving files chronologically, but little to no use in a sentence. |
| Connard Sage | 08 Dec 2009 2:24 p.m. PST |
Journalistic laziness. 16 December or December 16th, but not December 16. Why is 16 December less lazy than December 16? We Brits (I still do) used to say either; 'the 16th of December' or 'December the 16th'. Sadly the masses seem to have dropped the definite article in their rush to be transatlantic. |
| Last Hussar | 17 Dec 2009 5:12 p.m. PST |
Surely December 16 doesn't happen for another 7 years? I say 16th, but write in official documents 16, as that was the demands of my previous employer. |
