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How Do You Express Time

You're picking up a friend at 4:45. What time do you tell them?

  • Total voters
    149
Althetuna

Althetuna

Ducky was the best dog.
Jul 7, 2012
12,970
11,416
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Somewhere in the Minneapolis Area
My 18 year old son HATES it when I tell time in terms of minutes before or after the hour such as, "We're leaving at a quarter to five" as opposed to, "We're leaving at four forty-five.". I think its related to the types of clocks we grew up with. I grew up with an analog clock. He grew up with a digital.
 
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You would never type or text out "quarter to five" because typing 4:45 is so much faster. That's probably why not many younger people would say it either, because something like that would be communicated through text.
 
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“Half past monkey’s ass, and a quarter to his hole.” Probably needs to go into the thread about sayings you heard growing up.
 
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JM4CY said:
Lots of times kids don’t even get taught how to read an analog clock anymore
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My mom's friend's daughter, who is 20 years old, has no clue how to read an analog clock. You're right they just don't teach it anymore. Newer schools have a digital centralized clock and clocks at home are on your devices and appliances.
 
3TrueFans said:
Quarter to five feels like an old person thing, so maybe you're right.
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"Half past" is definitely old-timey. Quarter to or till is not.

The difference proposed in the voting is that of digital vs analog time-keeping. It would seem that kids these days are strictly digital and have trouble telling time with analog displays. I do as well, and I'm a geezer Okay Boomer, so there's that.

"quarter to" vs "quarter till" is regionally dialectical, as is "a quarter of".

strategiesforparents.com

What it Means When Someone Says A Quarter Till: Grammar and Usage

You’ve probably heard the English expression “quarter till” in movies, songs, or even your daily interactions. It’s a phrase that refers to telling the time, but it can be a bit tricky to learn the time from this phrase. So, exactly what does it mean when someone says, “a quarter till”? When...
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stormchaser2014 said:
My mom's friend's daughter, who is 20 years old, has no clue how to read an analog clock. You're right they just don't teach it anymore. Newer schools have a digital centralized clock and clocks at home are on your devices and appliances.
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When I was volunteering and working with grade school children, analog clocks were still being taught. This was a few years ago; less than five. They had to learn what time "a quarter til four" meant. They suspiciously taught this at the same time they were teaching kids how to count money, which made no sense at all considering a quarter is 15 of one and 25 of another.
 
mywayorcyway said:
When I was volunteering and working with grade school children, analog clocks were still being taught. This was a few years ago; less than five. They had to learn what time "a quarter til four" meant. They suspiciously taught this at the same time they were teaching kids how to count money, which made no sense at all considering a quarter is 15 of one and 25 of another.
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My sister told me that her German teacher used to coach high school basketball a long time ago and one time on the first day of practice, he had told players to show up at quarter after 3. Everyone showed up at 3:25.
 
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