Thread: Americanisms are ****ing me off

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

there is/was a theory going around that the measuring system used in USA is the only one that fits evenly mathematically/harmonically into the light speed/time continuum calculations used in space travel and universal measurement.

metric measurements never fit evenly or harmonically into those calculations

do the other spacerace contenders use imperial measurement?

Just something I read a few years ago.....if it has merit then that may be why they keep their system in place.

Den

A simpler and more likely explanation is that they left it too long to change and it has become too expensive to make the change now.

Originally Posted by clubagreenie

Sorting DDMMYY will list as follows:

01 01 2014 01 Jan 2014
01 02 2014 01 Feb 2014
01 03 2014 01 Mar 2014
...
01 12 2014 01 Dec 2014
02 01 2015 02 Jan 2015

MMDDYY

01 01 2014 01 Jan 2014
01 02 2014 02 Jan 2014
01 03 2014 03 Jan 2014
...
01 12 2014 01 Dec 2014
31 12 2014 31 Dec 2014
01 01 2015 01 Jan 2015

I think you have cheated in your edited version by avoiding the example I offered.

If you do a simple sort on MMDDYY, then

01 01 2014 01 Jan 2014
01 02 2014 02 Jan 2014
03 05 2012 05 Mar 2012
01 03 2013 03 Jan 2013

becomes

01 01 2014 01 Jan 2014
01 02 2014 02 Jan 2014
01 03 2013 03 Jan 2013
03 05 2012 05 Mar 2012

If you want it to sort correctly with a simple sort, you need YYMMDD.

So those same dates would be written as
2014 01 01 01 Jan 2014
2014 01 02 02 Jan 2014
2012 03 05 05 Mar 2012
2013 01 03 03 Jan 2013

They would sort into

2012 03 05 05 Mar 2012
2013 01 03 03 Jan 2013
2014 01 01 01 Jan 2014
2014 01 02 02 Jan 2014

Scripts or macros could be written to correctly handle MMDDYY, but the same could be done for DDMMYY.

When it comes to sorting, then YYMMDD is the simplest. MMDDYY offers no advantage over DDMMYY and is illogical. MMDDYY will not sort correctly without the same sort of fiddling about that is needed to sort DDMMYY.

Originally Posted by trog

what no cone cheese on crackers ?

I'd already eaten by then.

Originally Posted by sheerluck

Yep, bugs me that one. Just like the addition of an extra 'r' in the word data.

To expand, why is "Data" used as the plural of "Datum" but an "s" is tacked on the end of Stadium, Maximum, Minimum & even Forum
This is & will be an interesting topic for young &
Perhaps everyone will gain something from it!
Steve

Originally Posted by Saitch

To expand, why is "Data" used as the plural of "Datum" but an "s" is tacked on the end of Stadium, Maximum, Minimum & even Forum
This is & will be an interesting topic for young &
Perhaps everyone will gain something from it!
Steve

Didn't think that was the case Steve. I believed that data is a mass noun rather than a plural.

Originally Posted by sheerluck

Didn't think that was the case Steve. I believed that data is a mass noun rather than a plural.

Quite right, mate but I still think the original meaning holds true. Well, in my Macquarie Dictionary it does.
Steve

Data - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Saitch

To expand, why is "Data" used as the plural of "Datum" but an "s" is tacked on the end of Stadium, Maximum, Minimum & even Forum
This is & will be an interesting topic for young &
Perhaps everyone will gain something from it!
Steve

I think it is simply a matter of how well assimilated into English are the words. For example, Stadium (s) moved into English from Latin in Middle English, where maximum and minimum (a) are modern Latin, and only moved into English in the nineteenth century, as the language of science moved from Latin to the vernacular.

Datum (a) is somewhat different in that in the relatively recent fields of IT, the plural is used as a mass word, and as computing has become ubiquitous, this usage has begun to transfer into standard English alongside the traditional use of the word in scientific and standard English where data is the plural.

John

Irks me when younguns say somethink instead of something. Then nuthink instead of nothing. Anythink for anything.

where does this rubbish come from? Some I've heard say these ink words are even uni graduates!