Orac, being in the US, I have found myself at times confused by number only announcements posted from the other side of the pond. I get your point, but have say you picked the wrong thread to complain in.

Messages above have outlined how we ended up with 9-11 to refer to last year. Sorry, you, I & the rest of the world are stuck with it. 9-11 (Nine eleven) is fast becoming a term in it's own right that is just simply a special case.

Do your complaining in a thread where people really might be confused. If you can't find one, maybe it's because most of the time people in this forum are aware of the problem and do name the month weather they put the day in front of, or behind it.

In the mean time this is what I'm hearing:
nine-eleven -- refers to the events of Sept. 11, 2001
nine-one-one -- emergency number
September eleven(th) -- the day in Sept. between the 10th & the 12th on which we celebrate births, anniversaries & other personal events of meaning; conduct business; basically live our lives.