this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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Why is it that Americans refer to 24 hour time as military time? I understand that the military uses the 24hr format but I don’t understand why the general public would refer to it like that?

It makes it seem like it’s a foreign concept where as in a lot of countries it’s the norm.

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[–] QubaXR@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Look up the "theory of American exceptionalism". In short there is a very strong belief here that America is one of a kind and things that may work for others simply don't apply here.

Explains why the US stocks a 12hr clock, messed up month/day/year mission, imperial measurement and a ton of other things that any foreigner will find anywhere from quirky to infuriating.

IMHO the exceptionalism theory is a b.s. lazy way of keeping things conservative and unchanged and shutting down any discussion of uncomfortable progress.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

It's not even imperial measurements - the US has its own customary units.

[–] lps2@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago

US and international date standards all suck : ISO8601 on the other hand is beautiful

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

There was a theory I read at one point, that for the life of me I can't remember the name of, that basically described a generalized form of exceptionalism, but for different categories.

Basically, the "most something" countries in any particular category are going to have exceptional circumstances that make what other countries do not always apply.

India, having the largest population, faces demographic problems that solutions that work in the Netherlands just can't address.
Same with Russian transportation infrastructure, and ultimately American economic issues.

[–] Blamemeta@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

"American Exceptionalism" also known as "Europeans are obsessed with America and can't understand why American's don't follow their orders, meanwhile the Danes count like Barbarians and the UK hasn't picked a system"

[–] lepthesr@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I could give a shit about following orders, it's a lot easier dealing with international business/trade/politics.

If everyone is on the same page, things are easier. I like the metric system. I'm a mechanic and my life is often hell because of the differences.

[–] DrQuint@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah yes, the two halves of the world, America and Europe.

[–] Blamemeta@lemm.ee -3 points 1 year ago

On the english-speaking internet? Pretty much, plus the Aussies and Canadians.

[–] Turun@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can make a "I hate you so much" "I don't think about you at all" meme out of it if you want, but the fact is that American media, most notably Hollywood has an immense cultural impact in the western world. People are often confronted with the weird system that Americans use, but not the other way round, let alone come across something like the danish numbering system. It's less obsession and more unpleasant regular occurances that lead to such strong opinions about the American system.

[–] governorkeagan@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing that! I’ll have a look into it.