They could be from Canada too. We’re in that fun zone of being mostly Oxford/metric/DMY, but due to proximity and history we still use a lot of Webster/imperial/MDY. My dad is from the past so he speaks in Fahrenheit but calls it “English”. Send help.
However, saying “July 23rd” feels more natural and efficient to me than “The 23rd of July”. That translates to me writing 07/23 over 23/07. To each their own though, I’m not gonna harsh any mellows over date formatting.
Coming from somewhere with the format the other way around, we do indeed say “23rd July” without all that extra fluff. So exactly the same efficiency wise. We simply count days like we’d count other stuff. For example I definitely didn’t had my coffee fourth just now.
But “Coffee fourth”/“fourth coffee” and “23rd July”/“July 23rd” are different things. I don’t think it’s a good comparison.
With the coffees you are counting how many you’ve had. The thing being counted is explicitly stated in the phrase.
With dates, you are not counting the number of July’s. This isn’t my 23rd July, but the 23rd day of this July. The thing being counted is only implied by colloquial understanding.
So yes, “coffee fourth” doesn’t work, but that doesn’t have much bearing on how to say a date in my opinion
You’re right, but the same must be said for July 23rd. Both are abbreviating “day in the month of july” to a simple mention of the month.
At the end of the day both work, both are equally efficient, and simply come down to habit.
