Forum Post: Slash Day

Today is November 11, 2011, or, as we abbreviate the date 11/11/11. Since I’m a radical egalitarian, that is, since I’m convinced that a world at peace is possible only if all participants in the global economy--no matter whether the contribution of each is distinguished or mundane--own the planet equally and benefit equally from it (as if the human enterprise were a family business), at once I resent the subordination in the abbreviated date of slashes to numbers. But when I write the date in slashes //////// in order to express the egalitarian spirit, I hear the numbers grumble, “Look here, Marv, we numbers represent the actual days of the month, and therefore make a much greater contribution to expressing today’s date than the slashes who merely contribute punctuation. Consequently, we numbers should be payed--we estimate conservatively--at least 99 times more than the slashes.”
“But slashes think as well of themselves as you numbers do of yourselves and therefore resent your arrogance. Don’t you fear that someday slashes will unite with dashes and overthrow the number system?” “Let them try it! The world cannot do without numbers. But a world without slashes . . . who cares?”

I care because I’m a slash. Therefore, as far as I’m concerned, today is Slash Day and the date is ////////.