Re: Time in various languages...

Neeraj Mathur:

> Not at all! When half of the ten o'clock hour has gone past, it is half
> ten - 10.30. What logic justifies the 'halb zehn' meaning? I've been
> puzzling over that since my German friends first told me about it years ago.

The logic is:

9:15 (ein) viertel zehn
9:30 halb zehn
9:45 dreiviertel zehn

The notion "halb zehn" is universal in the German speaking coutries; for
the quarters we find both the above schema and a "viertel vor" vs.
"viertel nach" schema, plus mixtures of the two. See my posting
<slrncbrme2.725.a282244@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>.

Helmut Richter
.