WH meltdown, cont.: Press officer snaps at UK journalist for laughing at birth date format confusion

[highplainsdem]

Link to tweet

Tweets from Jim Waterson of BuzzFeed UK there, including tweets from Sunday Mail reporter Ned Donovan.

The British press corp was locked out of the WH while the WH puzzled over the birth dates on their IDs, which were written in typically British format.

And when Donovan laughed when told they didn't know the British date format was different, the WH press officer (not sure whether that was Spicer or someone else) told him off:

Link to tweet

"Why is that funny? One person put their birthday as 01/08/(year), why would we be expected to think that means August 1st? Why?"

Real overreaction from the press officer there. They must know that much of the world is laughing at them, and much of that laughter is because of their ignorance.

[gratuitous]

1. And they spelled colour wrong!

Amateur hour continues at the White House. World still not laughing. People continue stubbornly insist on suffering and dying while White House scrambles to get up to speed. Who has the audiobook of "Presidenting for Dummies"?

[TlalocW]

8. And why do they keep saying garage wrong?

And what's all this, taking the pram out of the boot of the auto to get into the lift to go up to the flat to watch telly while eating bangers and mash with spotted dick for afters? You're just trying to make Trump look foolish!

TlalocW

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. And what the ever living fuck is a "tyre"?

And why is there an extra "I" in Aluminum?

[ms liberty]

17. And why do they call it Al-you-min-ee-um?

[OnlinePoker]

23. It's like they don't know how to speak English. n/t

[DeminPennswoods]

24. Drat! Now I will have to put

the original cast recording of "My Fair Lady" on.

[AtheistCrusader]

30. Chuckles aside, this isn't a UK issue.

Like not being metric, this is a thing where the US is out of step with most of the WORLD.

DD/MM/YYYY is the international standard. (Not just the 'UK' standard)

We use MM/DD/YYYY, because fuck the world, that's why.

[OnlinePoker]

49. We use D/M/Y in Canada also

Though I have seen the U.S. system creeping into our media more in recent years. The issue, however is one of converting people to a new system. Even though we've been metric for over 40 years here, young people will still say they are 5 feet tall, even though they've never been taught the imperial system. These are kids whose grandparents were taught metric. I've seen similar things on British TV shows I watch. It is very hard to change institutional thought patterns if the mass sees no benefit to the changes.

[malaise]

50. In the entire Englishspeaking Caribbean

in India and many other places.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

63. I prefer YYYY/MM/DD.

It makes my OS sort my files chronologically.

[MrScorpio]

67. DD/MM/YY is the military standard

Which what I use.

The Press Office IS amateur hour.

[Hulk]

39. Just put it in the boot, or the bonnet, or...?

I'm still not sure on that one.

[Granny M]

43. Boot is the trunk, bonnet is the hood (where the engine is)

I guess that applies to cars with engines in the back, too, but not sure. Aren't too many of those about.

[OriginalGeek]

37. Well great.

now I'm hungry. :/

[Fantastic Anarchist]

61. They'll need some armour for the criticism they're about to receive.

[2naSalit]

69. Ha! Just wait until they find out what schedule sounds like!

[tblue37]

76. And they use rubbers to correct mistakes--when they write. nt

[JDC]

34. They said their spare was in the boot

I know their shoes are not big enough to hold a tire!

[volstork]

40. Don't get your nappie

in a wad!

[sueh]

73. "Presidenting For Dummies"...hilarious!

[global1]

2. They Better Not Plan A Trip For Trump To The UK As.....

they drive on the other side of the street there.

[karynnj]

32. Not when Trump is there! He will make a proclamation that everyone drive on the correct side

of the road as determined by Breitbart!

[Fantastic Anarchist]

62. "Make Every Road Great Again!"

[ffr]

3. I'm not sure why the WH would care. They're isolationists. So what what other people think, right?

Rookie mistake by incompetents.

[The Polack MSgt]

4. Why is it funny that we are ignorant and hostile?

If there were several people on the list, there was probably a birthdate that could've given that dipshit a clue.

Ya know, like 22/10/1970 - Obviously there is no 22nd month so they should've picked up on that...

Or asked an Air Force vet since we used that format all the time - hour/day/month/year

[riversedge]

7. Language arts classes has this in their curriculum-they did at my kids school not long

ago.

[alarimer]

11. That's where I learned it too.

Also, that numbers over 1000 are denoted by a period instead of a comma, in many other European countries. Like 1.000.000 for 1,000,000.

[riversedge]

15. Embarassing that the WH does not know some fundamental language arts knowledge and then

when pointed out--they could just have said---Learn something new everyday. Instead, they become defensive and rude.

[llmart]

22. Well, just wait to see how their heads explode....

when one of his generals says "So, that meeting is at thirteen hundred hours, correct?"

[riversedge]

5. The ability to laugh at yourself is a good character trait. It was lacking in the WH today.

[pangaia]

36. Just "today?"

[HopeAgain]

6. Is extremely thin skin a contagious condition? nt

[randome]

9. "We are Conservatives. What is this 'humor-sense' you speak of?"

[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]

[DURHAM D]

10. I hope none of the Brits said the word schedule. nt

[LittleGirl]

20. bwaahaaa

i laugh whenever I hear it. thanks for the chuckle.

[Jimbo S]

12. That's how I date my checks

Yes, I still write checks. Surprised no one has ever questioned it.

OTOH, I write my "7"'s the European way and once had my neocon manager go apeshit over it.

[sdfernando]

46. Is that with the horizontal like through the middle? I always right my 7's that way...and

a slash through the Zero..that way I don't confuse it with "O"

[Hekate]

13. Gods this is embarrassing

[Big_K]

16. Any why do them Brits laugh when I talk about my Fanny?

[link:

|

[Blue Idaho]

18. What a bunch of ignorant shitheads...

You really could never make this up. FWIW - the WH needs to be careful, British journalists have a spine and an audience that expects the truth.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. US is so provincial. Everybody should use ISO international date formats. So easy

2017-01-27

It sorts alphanumerically.

Time stamps fit right in for continued sort order.

2017-01-27T13:21

It is so stupid that in 2017 we still see best-before dates like 16-02-17 and 17-02-16. You can't depend on the year being 2016 or 2017 for either one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

United Kingdom BS ISO 8601:2004, BS EN 28601 (1989-06-30)
United States ANSI INCITS 30-1997 (R2008) and NIST FIPS PUB 4-2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country shows six different conventions around the world.

The USA can be so arrogant thinking so often that their way is the only way.

And by the way, only the US, Burma, and Liberia still use predominantly metric measurements. Not even the US Army is that backward: they are metric.

[LittleGirl]

21. Don't forget, in Britian Trump means FART - eom

[mwooldri]

31. Then there's Trumpton.

Trumpton, and Camberwick Green were stop-motion animated children's shows ... filmed in the 1960s and repeated to death on the BBC well into the 1980s.

The team at Huffington Post reimagined Trumpton as if DJT became mayor of Trumpton... crazy.

https://m.

[George II]

45. Then there was the children's show about "Seaman Staines", too!

[pkdu]

54. Aha!...Captain Pugwash!! Oh the memories come flooding back. nt

[Sneederbunk]

25. Our Military also uses this sequence

Alert the Pentagon that the Trumpanzees are confused. And forget using the 24 hour clock.

[NastyRiffraff]

26. In Britain the FU sign is two fingers instead of one

Wonder if they know that one? One way to find out!

[etherealtruth]

27. Apparently the nitwits at the WH also spelled Theresa May's name incorrectly.

Did tRump make sure everyone there has an IQ of 12?

[malaise]

68. And Teresa May the Brit

is a porn star - I heard that on TV

[LisaM]

28. How embarrassing!

I mean, how embarrassing. Really.

[Buns_of_Fire]

29. Thankfully, "twit" is spelled the same on both sides of the pond. nt

[pangaia]

33. Dumb fucks. Plus, it is not just the British format, but almost the entire rest of the world !!

Clueless idiots-- almost nobody else uses inches, fahrenheit or gallons, either.

[mulsh]

35. the learning curve may be insurmountable for these people.

[link:http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2017/01/27/british-pm-to-discuss-whatever-random-thought-comes-into-trumps-head-next/?utm_source=WWN_Facebook_Page&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=Social_Link&utm_con|

[McKim]

38. What Provincial Jerks!

What provincial jerks. They have no business running our international relations. The rest of the world is now going to move around the US like an amoeba around a foreign object! A good thing, maybe there will be Peace at last!

[Cosmocat]

41. fucking idiots

[workinclasszero]

51. Correction...

Fucking idiots in charge!

[gay texan]

42. Breaking news from the BBC....

"Donald Trump has been determined to be a git, a tosser, a bellend, a prat, and a complete knob."

[Lisa0825]

57. I don't know what any of that means, but...

Welcome to DU!!!

[gay texan]

74. Thanks!

Here's a translation:

Git = idiot
Prat = a complete dumbass
Knob = male sex organ
Bellend = well, the business end of the male sex organ
tosser, well ewwwww

[Lisa0825]

75. LMAO! Thanks for the translation!

[vanlassie]

59. And, a bloody idjut.

[George II]

44. Why? Because that's the way the whole WORLD does it.

[annabanana]

47. This is the funniest damn thread of the day

hands down!

[politicat]

48. Oh, dear. Don't let the military in, either.

Because that's military format, too.

These people are so stupid they couldn't write dialogue for a porno. Somebody needs to water them regularly. So dense that light bends around them. If we taxed brains, they'd get a rebate.

So breathtakingly ignorant and so fucking proud of it. The Dunning-Krueger Administration.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

65. Trump, with his vast military experience, should know.

He knows more than the Generals.

[Rex]

52. Oh gosh do they not know the entire planet is laughing at them and us?

What fucking planet do they live on? Not this one.

[highplainsdem]

56. I suspect they do know it, and it's why they're having this meltdown.

[royable]

53. Insular dunces, every one. n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

55. I almost always use the

day/month/year format except when a form explicitly states otherwise, e.g. US Government forms (IRS, passport, etc.)

When I am in the US though, I always spell the month out, e.g., 27 January 2017.

I learned the other format as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the 1960s. It is also used exclusively in Europe and in most countries around the world. We are NOT in the majority and for any USG press officer to get up in arms about something so trivial shows just how amateur hour-ish and arrogant the whole Trump Administration is.

I also learned to use the slash when writing the number "7" and the letter "z" in the 1960s.

The whole world is laughing at us.

[tavernier]

58. Plonker. n/t

[eleny]

60. And if you really want to fight - start measuring stuff. Oy.

[Maru Kitteh]

64. Trump retained his private security goons. Donuts to dollars this was them

NOT the secret service.

Secret service would know better. They have extensive international experience and, you know, education.

[GoneOffShore]

66. In their defense (cough, cough), they don't get out a lot.

[grantcart]

70. two words: Metric, Embarrassed

[LakeArenal]

71. Crikey!

[dlk]

72. The "I'm Ignorant and Proud of It" Contingent

The party that has been warring against strong public schools for decades has gifted us with the "I'm ignorant and proud of it contingent." They don't read books or newspapers and get their "knowledge" from infotainment courtesy of popular media outlets. If they don't already know something, it's not worth knowing. They are an embarrassment to us all.