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    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Are you ready to learn to count dear 01, 02 , 03 ,04 etc dur ------------ whats going on?

    When I learnt to count it went 1, 2, 3 , 4 ,5 etc

    Is it wasteful of time energy and paper to have a surpurfluous nought at the beginning?

    The date used to be 6/4/87 now we have 06/04/08

    WHY ALL THE O's ????
  2.  
    Computers. Helps them sort the date data I expect.
    • CommentAuthorSimonH
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Yes - but really it needs to be 20080814 to sort correctly.

    It also looks tidier. But actually you've missed an Important point - it used to be Friday 14th August 2008.

    So 14/08/08 is acutally less wasteful ;-)

    God knows what went wrong in america. 08/14/08?? Either have the digits in increasing or decreasing order of precedence, why stick the months at the start?

    Simon.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    It's really strange that the wellspring of all that's most modern is the last bastion of British Thermal Units, ft.lbs, gallons, and 08/14/08. The last is particularly enraging when it's forced upon us on stupid hick websites, even those that have a English (UK) language button. And they can't stand to see a Union Jack as the icon for 'English'. And they have to call their Harriers AV8s (ho ho military humour - like K9) so Americans don't know they're relying on furrin technology.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    What about 14/8/8 ? ----------- or if you must 14/8/08


    If we need prefixed meaningless zoros what about 0119? or 01066?
    • CommentAuthorbiffvernon
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008 edited
     
    Posted By: SimonH
    God knows what went wrong in america. 08/14/08??
    Maybe he was miffed when the Anno Domini was dropped.

    Why are so few buildings finished off with a date stone? Do the builders and architects expect their works to be temporary?
    • CommentAuthorstephendv
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Posted By: tonyWhat about 14/8/8 ? ----------- or if you must 14/8/08


    Computer programmers from the year 2099 will be cursing you tony. ;)
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    LOL they could have trouble with 064:wink:
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Today is 2008-08-14. Most importantly, there's no risk of confusion. Any other format is just a parochial bl**dy nuisance in any on-line writing or other context where somebody from another country might need to read it.

    Also, it's easy to sort (e.g., in a directory listing of file names containing dates) or anywhere else where simple alphanumeric comparisons are used.

    This is the only date format I use and have done so for about a decade. Whenever I see any other format I have to stop and think about the context to figure out what it means.

    ISO 8601 or, equivalently, BS EN 28601.

    Many older internet protocols (e.g., e-mail) have weird date formats but anything recent will almost certainly use RFC 3339 which defines a specific subset of ISO 8601.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    OK then can u tell me this date? 05 04 1904? for certain?


    Then is 5/4/1904 any less ambiguous?
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    Fifth of April or fourth of May? Both are in widespread use in the English speaking world but, as far as I know, nobody in the world uses YYYY-DD-MM hence the preference for four digit year first. I suppose you could write 2008-8-14 but it seems perverse to break from the written standard and make lists of dates, etc, more awkward to read just to save the odd digit now and again.

    What's this got to do with building, by the way?
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    numbers dont worry me.

    it's the local parochial grammar that even the teachers speak that is going to really p*ss me off when my daughter goes to school next year.

    How the hell are children to learn how to speak and write grammatically correct English, when the teachers struggle with the concept?


    Perhaps it is that i am a foreigner in these parts (an Englishman in Fife) but I pay my taxes to have my child taught to say:
    "those ones over there" and not "they ones over there"
    "i went to school today" and not "i've went to school"

    etc.

    regardless of how they are taught, teachers should speak correct English. Nothing wrong with accents and colloquial words and expressions, but grammar is a must.

    I am already getting fired up for a fight at the school! What makes it difficult is that, by all accounts, the teachers are excellent in every other way imaginable.

    yours

    15/08/08
    15/08/2008
    15/8/08
    15/8/8
    8/15/8
    08/15/08
    08/15/2008
    2008/08/15
    15th August 2008
    the 15th of August 2008
    15th Aug 2008
    Aug 15th 2008
    Friday the fifteenth of August in the year two thousand and eight!
    • CommentAuthorludite
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    What really bugs me is There, their, borrow and lend, saw and see, to,two,too - but that could be because numbers are double dutch and to be avoided at all costs (which is why I never made anything good in woodwork - can't measure:sad:) YES!!!! I blame the teachers every time. Us parents, we ain't taking no blame fer nuffink.
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    i will happily take the blame for everything. (as an atheist, i dont rely on a figment of my imagination to take the blame for me!)


    It is just depressing that all your hard work comes back undone after just four hours at nursery in the morning!

    It does give children a fighting chance if the teachers have some level of education themselves, and are a little further than three pages ahead of them in the curriculum!
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    Excellent, a Friday afternoon rant thread.

    Posted By: luditeWhat really bugs me is There, their, borrow and lend, saw and see, to,two,too


    There are lots of word pairs like this which people abuse to irritate me, presumably deliberately. It's, its; effect, affect; advice, advise spring to mind in addition to Ludite's there, their and, I would add, they're.

    However, the most relevant to this forum is kW and kWh. The first is power the second is energy. There are no other standard spellings and use of other cases is wrong and, sometimes, potentially confusing. kW/h is (almost) always wrong; at least I've never seen it used where it made any sense though it could be used for something like reporting the output of a PV panel factory. For shear "creativity", though, k/Wh takes some beating. I sniggered for a good ten minutes after seeing that the first time, though the author did at least get the case right.
    • CommentAuthorMike George
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008 edited
     
    On the subject of cases, how about the death of capitalization? Seems to be quite common amongst adults never mind children. How can we expect our children to get even the basics right if we do not get them right ourselves?
    •  
      CommentAuthorali.gill
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    oops sorry mike.... try again ... Whoops! Sorry, Mike..... yes, thats, much better... your right to..
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    borrow and lend? - best not to merge those just yet! death of capitalization - communization tried that. Now, capitalisation is different.
  19.  
    Bloody autocorrect - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    Yeah - anyone know how to make Autocorrect stay on the UK English dictionary? - I've given up, just keep adding new UK words to the US dictionary
    • CommentAuthorludite
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     
    Thanks Ed Davies. . . .I knew there were three 'there's' that bugged me, and then I remembered the last one after I'd posted. . . . .. Ain't it annoying when they do it theyre' ????? and get the little apostrophe in the blumming wrong place!

    The lend and borrow thing (correct my speech marks if necessary)

    "Oi. Can I lend your spade 'coz I wanna dig up me potatoes?"

    Should read as: "Excuse me kind sir, but please may I BORROW your digging implement to remove my tubers?"

    If you GIVE something, you LEND it, and if you TAKE something you BORROW it. NOT the other way around.

    Does my BL**DY head in that one does!!
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2008
     
    yeah, that'll learn 'em.
    • CommentAuthorStuartB
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2008
     
    Doctor - gonnae no dae that, like talk aboot the schals bein crap an aw that, ah come fae fife n thurs nuthing wrang wi the way ah speak, it's great when yi go abroad cos awbody thinks yer foreign!:bigsmile: pure dead brilliant! member - it taks a lang spoon tae sup wi a fifer. It does have an upside!

    Apologies to all viewers south of the border.
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2008
     
    Appreciated, Stuart.

    two years working in a pub in Dundee many years ago was a baptism of fire, and can now understand most of you lot with ease. (although one of the bin men does leave me scratching my head!)
    • CommentAuthorStuartB
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2008
     
    Well noo Dundonians - thats anither kettle o fish awthegither :shocked:
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2008
     
    roundabouts being called 'circles' still brings a smile after 17 years up here!
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2008
     
    When they had an architectural ideas competition for middles of roundabouts, the geordie entry was a huge wellie full of flowers - roondaboot - geddit?
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2008
     
    I have recently seen another good one in a lift, I generally take the stairs option if available. Anyway there were less than ten floors but the floor indicator in the lift had a two digit display and instead of leaving the first blank they had put a dash in it so instead of going up to floor four one went up to floor minus four.

    Thus -1 pluss three = -4
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2008
     
    are you sure you went up, and not down into a level minus 4 government research 'facility' into subversive environmental campaigners?!
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2008
     
    I was worried! am concerned about all the wasted printing ink, time and space fore all these unnecessary zeros too.

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