Chris Doran wrote :

Not in the UK. Despite having many Americanisms forced on us
(mini-billions, -izes, trick-and-treat, Thanksgiving, and, just
recently, yellow school busses) we still use day-month-year.

However, a postmark I happen to have in front of me says
unequivocally:

MOUNT PLEASANT
8 45AM
11 AUG
2003


Chris,

Many thanks for correcting my bad knowledge of UK versus US (I lived
four years in London but in an international environment : this may
explain that sometimes I mix the habits of the Americans and those of
the British ;-).

As for the dates, I thought that in both the UK and the US, a correct
writing should be :

Saturday September 20th 2003 (with some comas I don't know where to
place :-(

and not
Saturday 20th September 2003
(direct translation from the French :
Samedi 20 Septembre 2003)

I am not speaking of postmarks (I should, as we are on rcsd !)
but of the current use of dates, i.e. in a letter.

Coming back to your answer :

I like the mini-billion term ;-)))
I thought that the spellings in '-ize' and the 'trick-and-treat' habit
from the children were coming from the UK ?
I was not aware of the yellow school busses now used in the UK, but I
think that (for safety purposes) it is a nice idea ;-)

Many thanks as well to Blair for his kind answer explaining the
situation in Canada as for the dates on the postmarks.

--
All the best,
Pierre Courtiade