Is it common to reverse the rank and file in chess notation? I was watching an episode of Sesame Street that had to do with playing chess.  In a short film, there is a chess master that was going over some moves with school kids and I remember one of the kids said something like 7f Queen to 3g.  This threw me off because the rank and file were reversed.  I am used to hearing Qf7 to g3.  Is reversing the rank and file common or is this more of an isolated incident?
It's not common (I've never heard of it), and it's certainly not an official notation.  Without further information, I have no idea why the chess master would have accepted the strange notation.  Perhaps he didn't think it worthwhile to argue at the time.
Edit: as Tony Ennis notes, the notation for shogi is quite similar to what you are describing.

The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. It is not used in Japanese-language texts, as it is no more concise than kanji.
A typical move might be notated P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P for Pawn. (There is also L lance, N knight, S silver, G gold, B bishop, R rook, K king, as above.) Promoted pieces are indicated by a + in front of the letter: +P is a tokin (promoted pawn).
[...] For example, the start of a game might look like this:

1. P-7f   2. P-3d
3. P-2f   4. G-3b
5. P-2e   6. Bx8h+
7. Sx8h   8. S-2b

Perhaps that is what the child was thinking of.