# British English locale **URL:** \ **Category:** UX\ **Created:** [16. Juni 2017 um 08:57 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604 "2017-06-16T08:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tophee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tophee/32/73406_2.png) [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)\ **Post date:** [16. Juni 2017 um 08:57 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/1 "2017-06-16T08:57:41Z")
Is there any specific reason why there is no British English locale? (Or [any other non-US English](https://meta.discourse.org/t/country-specific-locale/18653), for that matter) My concern is mainly with the US date format, which is not common outside the US but if you want an English locale on a discourse site, it is forced upon you. But others might have other reasons for wanting British English. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [16. Juni 2017 um 09:02 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/2 "2017-06-16T09:02:47Z")
![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/4/9/49d132923b82554734b1eea4c91e37f626bc4657.png) ---
**Author:** ![LeoMcA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/leomca/32/87233_2.png) [@LeoMcA](https://meta.discourse.org/u/LeoMcA)\ **Post date:** [16. Juni 2017 um 17:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/3 "2017-06-16T17:33:58Z")
As a proud English English speaker I’ve never run into any problems. > [@tophee](#): > > My concern is mainly with the US date format, which is not common outside the US _July 04, 2017_ is completely understandable to me, it’s something like _07/04/17_ which is prone to confusion (is it _4 July 2017_\*, _7 April 2017_, or _17 April 2007_?), but thankfully I’ve never seen a date formatted like that in Discourse. \* This is the one which makes the least sense, why would you not go in a consistent order? What do they put in the water over there? [Lots of tea, I guess.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party) Can’t we all just agree to use [ISO 8601](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601)? ---
**Author:** ![tophee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tophee/32/73406_2.png) [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)\ **Post date:** [16. Juni 2017 um 18:49 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/4 "2017-06-16T18:49:27Z")
I don’t think this is about whether or not US dates are understandable. They certainly are. It’s more a question of whether you’re used to a particular date format so that you can read it without thinking about it or not. On discourse, the most confusing date formats in US English are the frequently used short formats Jun 16 and Jun '16. A British locale would spare me that confusion. ---
**Author:** ![LeoMcA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/leomca/32/87233_2.png) [@LeoMcA](https://meta.discourse.org/u/LeoMcA)\ **Post date:** [16. Juni 2017 um 19:07 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/5 "2017-06-16T19:07:07Z")
> [@tophee](#): > > On discourse, the most confusing date formats in US English is the frequently used short formats Jun 16 and Jun '16. A British locale would spare me that confusion. Oh yes, I’d forgotten about that one - I have in the past found dates formatted like that very confusing… ---
**Author:** ![BobbyZopfan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/bobbyzopfan/32/149374_2.png) [@BobbyZopfan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BobbyZopfan)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 12:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/6 "2019-04-26T12:28:31Z")
> [@LeoMcA](#): > > , I’d forgotten about that one - I have in the past found dates formatted like that very conf Is there a way to avoid this confusion? I’m admin of a Discourse forum. ---
**Author:** ![tophee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tophee/32/73406_2.png) [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 12:39 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/7 "2019-04-26T12:39:51Z")
The only workaround that I’m aware of is the one described here: > [@Change to DD Mmm / Mmm 'YY for post dates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/35): > > Just in case anyone wants to change from the Month-Day format to the (internationally more common) Day-Month format: to find all relevant Text Content elements (quite a few actually), it’s best to search for MMM. UPDATE: I just realized that searching for MMM will not give you all relevant Text Content elements. (For example, dates in emails will still remain the same. Try searching for date. Some of the text elements that you need to change are using a different notation, such as %B %-d, %Y I… ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/stephen/32/95011_2.png) [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 14:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/9 "2019-04-26T14:34:43Z")
Six years in, and with most of my deployments here in the UK I’ve had zero comments or complaints about date formats. As a lazy Brit myself, with limited knowledge of other languages I use DDMMYY by default, but have never been perturbed by the Month DD, YY here on Discourse. Has anyone substantiated this as a legitimate concern, beyond the hypothetical? ---
**Author:** ![david](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/david/32/157490_2.png) [@david](https://meta.discourse.org/u/david)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 15:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/10 "2019-04-26T15:44:49Z")
> [@Stephen](#): > > Has anyone substantiated this as a legitimate concern, beyond the hypothetical? I agree it is trivial, and I’ve got quite used to american dates/spellings since getting involved in Discourse. If I had a ~~pound~~ dollar for every time I’ve misspelled Customi **s** e, Seriali **s** er, Initiali **s** er, Colo **u** r in the code, I could buy a lot of do **ugh** nuts! However, I have seen user complaints about this. On a small forum I run we applied the solution @tophee linked. If you look around some other UK discourse forums you’ll see they’ve done the same. A couple of random examples: [1](https://community.monzo.com/t/display-of-dates/8259) and [2](https://se23.life/t/date-formatting/6988). I’m sure there are more. ---
**Author:** ![BobbyZopfan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/bobbyzopfan/32/149374_2.png) [@BobbyZopfan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BobbyZopfan)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 16:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/11 "2019-04-26T16:47:01Z")
No its not trivial. Nothing is trivial if something is happening daily. Even if its as small as having to blink my eye daily while coming to office. But at the same time, nothing is big. Particularly when we already are getting so much free. So it’s just a question of effort required to do it. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 20:36 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/12 "2019-04-26T20:36:04Z")
I think it is fine, even expected, to have a british english locale. ---
**Author:** ![gerhard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/gerhard/32/119479_2.png) [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 21:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/13 "2019-04-26T21:28:16Z")
Ideally we would have - English (equal to the current “English”, but with international date formats) - English (US) (only different date formats, fall back to English) - English (UK) (British spelling, fall back to English) I definitely want to add an English locale with international date formats. I’m just not sure how. The correct way would be to 1. change the date formats in the existing `en` locale files 2. add an additional `en_US` locale 3. migrate everyone who’s currently using `en` to `en_US` In theory that should work without problems. I’ll certainly give it a try. The alternative would require us to invent a new locale key (e.g. `en_INT`) and add it as “English (International)”. I’m actually not a fan of that solution. Also, @sau226 started working on the the [British locale on Transifex](https://www.transifex.com/discourse/discourse-org/language/en_GB/). I’m not sure if he’s there’s more work to be done or if “colour” is actually the only word that needs changing in our locale files. I highly doubt it. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/stephen/32/95011_2.png) [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [26. April 2019 um 22:39 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/14 "2019-04-26T22:39:26Z")
We’re slowly crawling through it. Definitely more than a few u’s missing sadly, America has a bizarre fixation with the letter z, to the point that [certain acronyms lose their meaning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazer). ---
**Author:** ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)\ **Post date:** [29. April 2019 um 01:50 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/15 "2019-04-29T01:50:42Z")
> [@gerhard](#): > > if “colour” is actually the only word I guess we need to analyse the locale file carefully for offences! 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)\ **Post date:** [29. April 2019 um 02:07 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/16 "2019-04-29T02:07:30Z")
> [@sam](#): > > analyse I think you meant analyze 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/stephen/32/95011_2.png) [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [29. April 2019 um 05:13 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/17 "2019-04-29T05:13:54Z")
Definitely not. Anyone who spells it like that is instantly **disqualified** from contributing. 😃 I’m assured Aussies know how to spell correctly. Puns about prison colonies aside, our antipodean cousins never once wasted an entire shipment of tea 😠 ---
**Author:** ![gerhard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/gerhard/32/119479_2.png) [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)\ **Post date:** [30. April 2019 um 20:20 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/18 "2019-04-30T20:20:18Z")
> [@gerhard](#): > > I definitely want to add an English locale with international date formats. I’m just not sure how. The correct way would be to > > 1. change the date formats in the existing `en` locale files > 2. add an additional `en_US` locale > 3. migrate everyone who’s currently using `en` to `en_US` OK, I started looking into this and it seems doable without a lot of changes. The only important question is: Do we switch to `en_US` as default or do we do we stick with `en` (and the international date formats) as default? I assumed we want `en_US` as default, so I gave that a try and other than a couple of failing specs it appears to be a smooth ride. ---
**Author:** ![gerhard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/gerhard/32/119479_2.png) [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)\ **Post date:** [20. Mai 2019 um 12:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/19 "2019-05-20T12:44:43Z")
Discourse ships a new English locale that comes with international date and time formats. Please give it a try. The old English locale has been renamed to “English (United States)” and is the new default locale. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [20. Mai 2019 um 21:15 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/20 "2019-05-20T21:15:53Z")
English (British) ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/6/b/6bdf1ea7d04e113028aa624fef0d83295c5b8ccf.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/stephen/32/95011_2.png) [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [20. Mai 2019 um 21:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/british-english-locale/64604/21 "2019-05-20T21:44:28Z")
English (United States) ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/e/7/e753961dbec12a9a0ecde5b63da1ff29f97544c2.gif) That was one of the few gifs which didn’t feature eagles, automatic weapons and 'murrica captions.