Forum:Cardinal numbers

Tardis:Manual of Style says:
 * The names of articles having to do with dates shall be in a cardinal number format. Thus, 1st January, 12th July and 2nd May.

First, the cardinal numbers are 1, 2, 3, etc., distinguished from the ordinal numbers 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. In other words, this is saying the exact opposite of what it intends.

Second, Wikipedia explicitly agrees with most linguists that the day in a date is an ordinal number whether or not it's written with the explicit indicator. A third of the article ordinal number (linguistics) is dedicated to explaining, in effect, that some countries write "September 5, 2011" with the "5" meaning the ordinal "fifth" (and pronounced that way).

Finally, the Wikipedia link given is to the article on set-theoretic cardinals, not the one on ordinary-language cardinals (which are under cardinal number (linguistics), and the same would be true if it were just corrected to "ordinal".

So, this should say something like:


 * The names of articles having to do with dates shall be in ordinal number format, with explicit ordinal indicators. Thus, 1st January, 12th July and 2nd May.

Or maybe a less verbose and technical version of the same idea. --173.228.85.35 11:01, September 5, 2011 (UTC)

For articles with dates, don't spell the numbers out. Use numerals. Use the form "1 January", not "the first of January".Boblipton 11:14, September 5, 2011 (UTC)

The whole point of the rule in the MoS is that you should use "1st January", not "1 January". If you didn't get that, that's yet anoher reason the rule needs to be rewritten.

On the other hand, if you're suggesting changing the rule instead of just fixing it to say what it's trying to say, that's a different subject, and I think it should be a separate thread. --173.228.85.35 00:59, September 6, 2011 (UTC)


 * MoS wording has been changed to reflect correct information. Thanks. --Tangerineduel / talk 13:36, September 6, 2011 (UTC)