Dates - how do we write them and how do we say them? 

‘Today is the twentieth of December or ‘Today is December the twentieth'. That's how we say it.

The way we write this date is a different matter, though: the modern, British way is 20 December. This is also what the European Commission recommends in their style guide. And that is what we recommend as the first choice. It is ‘clean' and cannot be misunderstood.

Let's take a quick look at some alternatives:

• December 20 - very common, also in the US
• 20th December - very common, too, but getting slighted dated. More common in hand-written texts (postcards, memos etc.)
• December 20th - like the one above, it signals a degree of conservatism, which some find attractive

• 20/12 - this is British or European, contrary to
• 12/20 - this is American - hence 9/11, which is a reference to the attack on Twin Towers in New York on 11 September 2001. In Euro-British, it would be understood as 9 November whereas the incident has now been almost branded as ‘nine-eleven' globally.

Which of the two last ones should you use? Neither, if you can help it! Whichever you choose is ambiguous in a globalised environment. What is 7/2? 7 February or 2 July? When readers have choices, they are prone to make the wrong ones! At least that's how it feels.