After a spirited explanation from Zed, I did a quick google and found that the 9-11 date notation for September 11th is correct by every national and international standard. If you wanted to be absolutely correct you would say 01-09-11. But that’s getting picky. To characterize it as day first, then month or 11-9, as suggested by this typist in a previous post, is not correct. Mea culpa.

The Canadian standards council has even written an article on the confusion surrounding numerical dating systems in Canada. It seems we can’t settle on one system. But the Americans have it right, even by Canadian standards.

According to the Standards Council of Canada the correct notation is

YY-MM-DD

According to the Canadian Treasury Board it is,

year-month-day

According to International Standards Organization (ISO), the format is:

year-month-day

According to British Standards Online, it is also

YY-MM-DD

And the moral of this little misadventure into date nomenclature?

Never swim alone.