Words On Wednesday

Date formats are not something that many people have any sort of opinion on, but it is something that I find very polarizing and I’ll explain why. The two date formats that I probably see most often are MM-DD-(CC)YY and DD-MM-(CC)YY, with the former being more prominent in the United States and the latter seeming to be the preferred format of European countries and elsewhere in the world. Maybe it aligns with use of the Metric system versus Imperial units, I’m not really certain. Either way, I think both options are terrible. First and foremost, they are terribly ambiguous. Without a definite indicator or a value higher than 12, the month and date could be interchangeable. Take today’s date, for example. September 12, 2018 as I will list it formally, could be represented as 09-12-2018 or 12-09-2018. Let’s not even get into the option of excluding the century from the year, as we all know of the headache that caused with Y2K. Without a clear context, those dates could alternatively ...

For quite a few years, I have collected shot glasses. Some people collect snow globes, some collect baseball cards, I collect shot glasses. How did I get started collecting shot glasses? Honestly, I can’t really remember. I probably picked up one from some tourist destination because it looked cool, rinse and repeat a few times, suddenly I’ve got a good many of them and it’s just become my “thing.” I’ve been collecting them at least since middle school, as I have a few from my 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. Collecting shot glasses has its perks. For one, it makes souvenirs super easy. If someone tells me they’re going on a trip and want to bring me something back, I always ask for a shot glass. No need to shop around and find something they think I’ll like. If they pick up a shot glass, we can both know for certain that I’ll like it. Plus, they’re typically cheaper than other souvenir items like shirts and towels. One facet of my collection that is missing, however, is some ...