Hello Nathan,

Placeholder messages: month/day/year appear when you set the DateInput option in the Date/Time Picker. They can be changed through JS, as you mentioned:

var dateinput = $("#datepicker").data("kendoDateInput");

dateinput.setOptions({messages: {
  "year": "y",
  "month": "m",
  "day": "d",
}})

Having the ability to set the messages through configuration in the MVC helpers would be helpful. If the community is interested in such functionality, we will consider adding such capabilities to the MVC helpers.

Don't forget to cast your vote for the Feature Request. 

Regards,
Ivan Danchev
Progress Telerik