Reading DATES in English

Guest   Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:17 am GMT
>...unless it was July fourth, in which case I think everyone says fourth of July...wonder why that is...

When that date became important, Americans were still fairly normal.
Liam   Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:47 am GMT
The main interest for me is when are people, in speech, going to start following tradition, and start calling the year "Twenty-oh-six" instead of the long-winded and clumsy "two-thousand-and-six"? Or simply "oh-six"?

1906 is never referred to as "One thousand, nine hundred and six"; it sounds ridiculous, and so does "Two thousand and six".

I went along with pronouncing 2000 as "two thousand", but after that it became twenty-oh-one etc., and I refuse to say the year as two thousand and something.

Or are history students these days being told that the Normans popped over the channel in one thousand and sixty-six?
Uriel   Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:30 am GMT
I think it will switch from "two thousand something" to "twenty-something" sometime in the teens, when the syllable number starts to go up. "Two thousand thirteen" is a little unwieldy; "twenty-thirteen" is easier to say.

Incidentally, back in 1906, there was a tendency to say "ought-six" rather than today's "oh-six".

Pity the poor Spanish-speaking world, though: when I was in school, every day we had to write out the date for practice, and 1986 was "mil novecientos ochenta y seis". I don't know if they really go through all that in real life, but it was quite a mouthful in class!
Candy   Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:33 am GMT
Like in French: 1986 was 'mille neuf cent quatre vingts dix'.

Uriel, when do you ever go to bed these days?? :)
Candy   Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:35 am GMT
For 'dix' read 'six' in my last post. ;) Also, if someone can add any hyphens as necessary, I'd be grateful!
Ed   Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:55 pm GMT
When saying the date in British/International English it is acceptable to say "the fifth of April 2006" or "April the fifth 2006". One must always used the definite article when speaking of dates, so "THE fifth of April" or "April THE fifth". Most people say "two thousand and six" but "twenty oh six" is also acceptable and is in fact more logical after saying "nineteen ninety-nine" not "one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine".

According to Wikipedia the form dd/mm/yy, for example 05/04/06 for today, is used in the following English-speaking countries and territories (along with most non-English speaking countries): -

Australia, Canada, Guyana, Hong Kong (English), Ireland, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The form yy-mm-dd, eg 06-04-05 is used in:-

Canada, Hong Kong (Chinese), South Africa.

The form mm/dd/yy is used in:-

Canada (non-official use), USA.
Alicia   Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:14 pm GMT
May I add that yy-mm-dd is also used in China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.

Beware in Taiwan and Japan though: Sometimes, the years they use are not regular years, but instead the year of the republic or emperor's reign year...

Taiwan: 2006 is the "95th year of the Republic of China", so 5 April 2006 may be written as 95-04-05.

Japan: 2006 is the "18th year of the Heisei reign", hence 18-04-05.
Uriel   Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:15 pm GMT
<<One must always used the definite article when speaking of dates, so "THE fifth of April" or "April THE fifth". >>

Really? Aparently a lot of us have not been informed of this "must", since it is quite common to drop the "the" around here and just say "October thirtieth" or "January second".
Ed   Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:29 pm GMT
> Really? Aparently a lot of us have not been informed of this "must", since it is quite common to drop the "the" around here and just say "October thirtieth" or "January second".

Yes, you must.

I started the paragraph with "When saying the date in British/International English..." The "must" refers to this standard, other forms of English may drop the definite article.
Y   Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:13 pm GMT
and how would you say the year 1600?
Cow   Fri Nov 03, 2006 5:23 pm GMT
>> The form yy-mm-dd, eg 06-04-05 is used in:-

Canada, Hong Kong (Chinese), South Africa.
<<

@Ed: Are you sure about that? According to Wikipedia:

Canada: uses 3 date formats, yy-mm-dd is not one of them.
They use: yyyy-mm-dd as in 2003-03-02; mm/dd/yy; or dd/mm/yy

Hong Kong: uses: yyyy年mm月dd日 or yyyy-mm-dd; but never yy-mm-dd

South Africa: uses yyyy-mm-dd; but "m/d/yy" is a common alternative"
Cow   Fri Nov 03, 2006 5:24 pm GMT
>> and how would you say the year 1600?<<

"The year sixteen hundred"