It's always an implicit conversion issue when people supply questions that show bad programming habits.

People use this site to LEARN about SQL. Whilst the dates given in this example are...

Yet another example of bad code relying on implicit conversions. Why is the Convert function not being used?

I feel that the question is a little unfair then!

I don't get it! None of the suggested answers create an error, they all work perfectly well. They don't all return results but they don't error either.

Not a good idea. As I have said before, this used to be my recommendation as it sems unambiguous. However, we then opened an office in Switzerland where they were using...

Blimey! I never thought of that

Hope I never have to write systems that use a mix of Gregorian and Hijri then

I agree with all of the comments above. NEVER NEVER NEVER code dates in this way!

I have said before that the only way dates...

Sorry, I just figured it out. It's because the quoted identifiers also fail at parse time.

This is a useful QOD because it can help explain unexpected behaviour. Well done to whoever set it

However, I have another question though....

I can't see why the straight update fails. I have had no problem inserting or updating data way beyond 4000 characters without problems.

Try this:

CREATE TABLE [TextTest] (

 [TheKey] [int] IDENTITY (1,...

A simple question made difficult by its confusing wording. Probably deliberate.

Does 'criteria' refer to the column name called 'Criteria' (which would give an error...

???

The day of the week doesn't change - regardless of the setting of DATEFIRST. Are you implying that 8th Nov 2004 could ever be anything other than a Monday?