Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's actually the standard European order. Testing the Russian locale might be a scary proposition, but certainly not for this specific reason.
It's not just the standard European order, it's the standard order for nearly everywhere on the planet except: > MDY: Belize, USA, parts of Canada, Philippines, Saudi Arabia > YMD: Japan, China, Iran, small bits of Europe > DMY: Probably 3/4 of the planet's land surface That said, YMD should make the most sense (and is most consistent with the universally accepted HMS time format). I try to use YMD wherever I can.
But MDY is just ugly and should die. It's almost as strange, as German way of saying 123. One hundert, three, and twenty :) Who invented this.
EDIT: didn't wanted to insult Germans :)