Re: Time in various languages...

>>>>> "Neeraj" == Neeraj Mathur <neemathur@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Neeraj> You're thinking of 10:00 as the end of the tenth hour, but
Neeraj> this is highly unnatural - the most natural entity is for
Neeraj> all of the times that start with 10 to be grouped
Neeraj> together. That's why TV programmes might start at 10 and
Neeraj> last until a few minutes before 10.30 or 11, but would
Neeraj> never start a few minutes after 9 or 9.30 and finish at
Neeraj> 10.

In Germany and France, TV Programmes usually start at 9:15, 10:15, etc.


Neeraj> This is the way that human minds instinctively work -

No. It's just a matter of convention.


Neeraj> that's why prices are always xx9.99,

No they aren't so in China. Those xx9.99 prices look stupid to us.


Neeraj> That's also why all of the big parties happened on 31 Dec
Neeraj> 1999,

That's just to celebrate bumping the thousand digit of the year
counter.


Neeraj> even though the new millenium wouldn't start for another
Neeraj> year.

Because that's a more boring thing: the year counter only changes the
last digit, like any other year.


--
Lee Sau Dan 李守敦 ~{@nJX6X~}

E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee
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