38 thoughts on “Americans still don’t get British Humor.”
I’ve always said anything less then 199 years is soon to joke about burning a capitol building. So this is funny. Somebody needs to tweet “Lighten up Francis.”Report
I think it’s funny, too. In any case, we’ve been square with England since 29 June 1950.Report
And yet you use British dating conventions? For shame…
BTW the tweet was funny. Remember comedy = tradegy + timeReport
American dating conventions are completely illogical. Why is the day number between the month and the year? You should order it according to either increasing or decreasing units of time.Report
@murali
1) Part of American exceptionalism is that we think our illogical inefficient dating convention is the best.
how is our system not by increasing units of time March 1st (3/1) comes before March 2nd (3/2).
Why does 1/3 followed by 2/3 look better or more logical?Report
@saul-degraw
To defend @murali it is because the year is at the end. In our system, you are changing the middle value every day. In the British system you are changing the first value.Report
As Murali said, it should either be increasing or decreasing by units. I tend to do it based on whether I’m spelling out the month or not – i.e. it’s 29 June 1950 but 1950/06/29. But then I’m a programmer, so I’m inured to 4-digit years and avoiding ambiguity.Report
I tend to write the month out because I find it aesthetically pleasing.Report
But then I’m a programmer, so I’m inured to 4-digit years
Honestly, kids these days. No respect for tradition,Report
In MY day, we only had 2-digit years…and we LIKED it!Report
You are all wrong, and I, of course, am right.
The only proper way to do it is by year, month, date (e.g., 2014-08-27), because then all the documents so named in your computer will follow a perfect temporal sequence. That’s how I designate meeting minutes. There is no other way that is in anyway logical. Not in any way logical.Report
Unless, of course, you hack the filesystem code to sort mm/dd/yyyyy the way you’d like whenever it sees a specific unused bit in the directory’s inode set. (This would be a parody of a Linux hacker if such a thing were possible.)Report
I have too much respect for the fine-tuned software products created by programmers to ever think of hacking their work.Report
@murali
Oh. You think american dating convention is bad?
What until you see the system they use for measurements…Report
@wyrmnax
I’d rather not think about that. Feet and inches, horrible as they are, are still manageable. Rulers and tapes often show both centimetres and inches and base 12 is still workable. The use of Fahrenheit for temperature, however, is appalling.Report
@james-hanley
The system you use is actually the ISO standard for reporting dates, so you’re not the only one who has worked out its the right way to present dates.Report
We don’t get British humor, because they misspell it.
Our cross-Atlantic neigbour’s insistence on an extraneous vowel causes us to harbour all sorts of reservations, of every flavour, and colour our perceptions of their honour.
Canadians also colour their writing with extra U’s. It’s British English so Americans are the ones spelling it wrong even if they have us outnumbered.Report
To paraphrase Jim Butcher: The language is English. They are English. It is their opinion which matters.Report
Hey, you’re lucky we’re just dropping the “u” and not adding an “I”.Report
@murali
The English would be speaking German if it wasn’t for the YanksReport
@saul-degraw
Shh. It’s a secret, but the British royal family is German.Report
Before the Germans came the Scots, and before them the Welsh, and before them a bunch of Frenchmen. You need to go back a thousand years to find English royalty, because they had names like “Ethelred the Unready”.Report
So this one of those stories where all the reporting was done in Twitter?
I’ve long thought that in the summer all the real WaPo reporters go on vacation and just hand the keys over to interns.Report
WaPo reporters are always on vacation.
Draw a pretty graph, and you can get on the front page! (at least of the finance section).
… yup, that lazy.Report
This would be a pretty lousy comment between (for example) the US and China, given the level of ongoing adversity between us. But between us and the UK? OMG are you serious?
I laughed.
(In fact, I eagerly await the Canadian contribution.)Report
I’ve always said anything less then 199 years is soon to joke about burning a capitol building. So this is funny. Somebody needs to tweet “Lighten up Francis.”Report
Lighten up Francis Scott Key?Report
Sgt. Hulka is not amused.Report
I think it’s funny, too. Guys, it’s been 200 years.
In honour of my country, I contribute this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVC677-YmfM.Report
I think it’s funny, too. In any case, we’ve been square with England since 29 June 1950.Report
And yet you use British dating conventions? For shame…
BTW the tweet was funny. Remember comedy = tradegy + timeReport
American dating conventions are completely illogical. Why is the day number between the month and the year? You should order it according to either increasing or decreasing units of time.Report
@murali
1) Part of American exceptionalism is that we think our illogical inefficient dating convention is the best.
2) tradegy=tragedyReport
@murali
how is our system not by increasing units of time March 1st (3/1) comes before March 2nd (3/2).
Why does 1/3 followed by 2/3 look better or more logical?Report
@saul-degraw
To defend @murali it is because the year is at the end. In our system, you are changing the middle value every day. In the British system you are changing the first value.Report
As Murali said, it should either be increasing or decreasing by units. I tend to do it based on whether I’m spelling out the month or not – i.e. it’s 29 June 1950 but 1950/06/29. But then I’m a programmer, so I’m inured to 4-digit years and avoiding ambiguity.Report
I tend to write the month out because I find it aesthetically pleasing.Report
But then I’m a programmer, so I’m inured to 4-digit years
Honestly, kids these days. No respect for tradition,Report
In MY day, we only had 2-digit years…and we LIKED it!Report
You are all wrong, and I, of course, am right.
The only proper way to do it is by year, month, date (e.g., 2014-08-27), because then all the documents so named in your computer will follow a perfect temporal sequence. That’s how I designate meeting minutes. There is no other way that is in anyway logical. Not in any way logical.Report
James is correct.Report
Unless, of course, you hack the filesystem code to sort mm/dd/yyyyy the way you’d like whenever it sees a specific unused bit in the directory’s inode set. (This would be a parody of a Linux hacker if such a thing were possible.)Report
I have too much respect for the fine-tuned software products created by programmers to ever think of hacking their work.Report
@murali
Oh. You think american dating convention is bad?
What until you see the system they use for measurements…Report
@wyrmnax
I’d rather not think about that. Feet and inches, horrible as they are, are still manageable. Rulers and tapes often show both centimetres and inches and base 12 is still workable. The use of Fahrenheit for temperature, however, is appalling.Report
@james-hanley
The system you use is actually the ISO standard for reporting dates, so you’re not the only one who has worked out its the right way to present dates.Report
American’s don’t get out much…out of the country.
Shesh…Report
Americans also misuse apostrophes.Report
We don’t get British humor, because they misspell it.
Our cross-Atlantic neigbour’s insistence on an extraneous vowel causes us to harbour all sorts of reservations, of every flavour, and colour our perceptions of their honour.
Come on, Limeys, it’s not always about u.Report
Canadians also colour their writing with extra U’s. It’s British English so Americans are the ones spelling it wrong even if they have us outnumbered.Report
To paraphrase Jim Butcher: The language is English. They are English. It is their opinion which matters.Report
Hey, you’re lucky we’re just dropping the “u” and not adding an “I”.Report
@murali
The English would be speaking German if it wasn’t for the YanksReport
@saul-degraw
Shh. It’s a secret, but the British royal family is German.Report
Before the Germans came the Scots, and before them the Welsh, and before them a bunch of Frenchmen. You need to go back a thousand years to find English royalty, because they had names like “Ethelred the Unready”.Report
Ethelred the Unready
That guy was late to his own funeral.Report
Never, ever had a #2 pencil. Not even once.Report
Maybe he should have joined the boy scouts.Report
So this one of those stories where all the reporting was done in Twitter?
I’ve long thought that in the summer all the real WaPo reporters go on vacation and just hand the keys over to interns.Report
WaPo reporters are always on vacation.
Draw a pretty graph, and you can get on the front page! (at least of the finance section).
… yup, that lazy.Report
This would be a pretty lousy comment between (for example) the US and China, given the level of ongoing adversity between us. But between us and the UK? OMG are you serious?
I laughed.
(In fact, I eagerly await the Canadian contribution.)Report
See Katherine’s comment up above Veronica my dear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVC677-YmfMReport
I was sooo hoping someone would post that. It’s an awesome song.Report