this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
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Showerthoughts

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I hear phrases like "half-past", "quarter til", and "quarter after" way less often since digital clocks have became more commonplace. (midwest.social)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts
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[–] RememberTheApollo_ 10 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I generally avoided use of the quarter/half shorthand because people often say it with no context.

“What time is it?”

“Half past.”

Half past what? Sort of an assumption that the asker has a clue what hour it is, but if they knew, why would they ask the time?

I’m not sad to see the phrases go.

[–] Metype 17 points 8 months ago

Never actually heard anyone exclude the hour, it's always "half past 3", "quarter to 8", "5 till 6", etc

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

That's why people usually say Half past 5, in my experience anyway.

[–] BradleyUffner 1 points 8 months ago

My childhood was filled with people doing that. It drove me nuts.