Writing Dates
Your input needed!

When I first began writing articles, bulletin and newsletter announcements, I had so much to learn (and still do!). One of the questions that arose in my mind is how to write dates correctly in various announcements. I had been use to seeing dates written as the following: "The birthday party is on Saturday, September 19th". My understanding is in adding a 'th' a 'st' or a 'rd' to the number, making it an ordinal number, you would write it this way: "The birthday party is on Saturday, the 19th of September". The rule of thumb is if the day is written before the month, it should be written as an ordinal number. If the day is written after the month it should be written as a cardinal number such as: "The birthday party is on Saturday, September 19."

In checking with a reference manual and on various sites on the internet on this particular subject I found this:

"There are two kinds of numbers you can use to talk about a specific day: an ordinal number and a cardinal number. Cardinal numbers represent amounts like one, two, and three. Ordinal numbers represent a place in a series like first, second, and third. When you're writing out a date like January 1, 2009, the day is a cardinal number. So you should never write January1st, 2008. The weird thing though is when you're speaking, even though it is written as January 1, you say, "January first" (1). So when you are reading a date that is written January 1, 2008, you say "January first, two thousand eight." (That's probably why a lot of people get confused about how to write it). The instance where it is okay to use an ordinal number is when you are writing the 1st of January, because you are placing the day in a series: of all the days in January, this day is the first. For example, your invitations could say, "Please join us for a party on the first of January." In that case, it's correct to use the ordinal number first."

Now this is what I want to know... it doesn't matter if I'm right or wrong, I just want to know if I'm understanding the correct way to write dates based on the information above. It all sounds silly doesn't it? But, when you have to write as many dates as I do, you want to get it right! So all that to say, I want your comments in any way, shape or form... email me or send me a comment (don't worry, I won't post it) and let me know if I'm understanding the above information correctly. Thanks everyone!