03rd OR 3rd?

[thedaffodils]

By James Tapper and James Millbank
Last updated at 1:33 PM on 03rd January 2010

Celebrity Big Brother on the brink of collapse... with 24 hours to go | Mail Online

The text I quoted is from the Daily Mail. Do British people ususally write the date such as 01st, 02nd, 03rd... but not 1st, 2nd, 3rd as I usually wrote?

Thanks!

 

[Linguist__]

Celebrity Big Brother on the brink of collapse... with 24 hours to go | Mail Online

The text I quoted is from the Daily Mail. Do British people ususally write the date such as 01st, 02nd, 03rd... but not 1st, 2nd, 3rd as I usually wrote?

Thanks!

I think it's because it changes automatically with the date. It isn't normal to write '03rd'. On electronic things, such as the date on my laptop just now, and when we fill in forms, it normally uses '03'. I think this is a format requirement though, DD/MM/YYYY kind of thing. Most people would just write 3/1/10, or 3rd January 2010. Never 03rd.

P.S. I can't believe I read through a whole article on Celebrity Big Brother before realising the date was at the beginning. :shock:. My brain has melted.

 

[thedaffodils]

P.S. I can't believe I read through a whole article on Celebrity Big Brother before realising the date was at the beginning. :shock:. ...

Thank you for your help. I don't understand the postscript of yours, though I understand each English word. Could you please also help me understand it?

 

[Nightmare85]

thedaffodils, I think Linguist just means that every human would write "3rd" instead of "03rd" because it looks better.
(At least to me.)
Some machines and forms automatically start with 0, such as 01st, 02nd, and so on.
I guess both versions are correct, but the version without 0 looks more "human"

Another thing:
I thought it is common for Americans to use:
MM-DD-YYYY
01-03-2010 = Today
(To be honest, I can't stand this :shock

Cheers!

 

[Linguist__]

Thank you for your help. I don't understand the postscript of yours, though I understand each English word. Could you please also help me understand it?

I'm just showing my hostility towards Celebrity Big Brother. I can't believe I read it - as in, normally I would avoid an article about Big Brother, so I can't believe I read it. I read it to find the example of '03rd', and then realised that it was in fact at the beginning, so even more reason to wish I hadn't wasted time reading it!

If someone refers to their brain melting it means that they felt they had to process a lot of information to understand it. What I meant was that I find the subject matter mundane and trivial to the point I feel less intelligent after reading it.

No offence though if you like Big Brother!

 

[kfredson]

thedaffodils, I think Linguist just means that every human would write "3rd" instead of "03rd" because it looks better.
(At least to me.)
Some machines and forms automatically start with 0, such as 01st, 02nd, and so on.
I guess both versions are correct, but the version without 0 looks more "human"

Another thing:
I thought it is common for Americans to use:
MM-DD-YYYY
01-03-2010 = Today
(To be honest, I can't stand this :shock

Cheers!

Yes, we Yanks begin with the month. But then, in some languages they reverse their numbers -- three-and-twenty, rather than our twenty-three. Strange, isn't it! (But I like it; it keeps your thinking flexible.)

As for the 03, we would not use this in normal writing. Unfortunately the computer is starting to rule our lives and it will sometimes get confused if we enter only a 3. It likes two digits at a time; hence, it will often demand that we enter 03-12-09. Over time it may take over completely and we'll have lost our nice, neat 3/12/09.

 

[bhaisahab]

Another thing:
I thought it is common for Americans to use:
MM-DD-YYYY
Cheers!

Yes it is , and it's horrible, but Celebrity Big Brother is British not American (unfortunately).