[wlug] Re: Scientists Rename Human Genes To Stop Microsoft Excel From Misreading Them as Dates

On Fri, 7 Aug 2020 09:13:47 +1200, Peter Reutemann quoted:

'... when a user inputs a gene's alphanumeric symbol into a spreadsheet, like MARCH1 -- short for "Membrane Associated Ring-CH-Type Finger 1" -- Excel converts that into a date: 1-Mar.'

Presumably localized versions of Excel will perform corresponding (mis)conversions on names that happen to look like dates in those locales. In other words, renaming the genes to accommodate Excel’s quirks seems like it’s only going to backfire in some other way.