Re: Time in various languages...

Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> Seán O'Leathlóbhair wrote:
>
> > With regard to America, I have also learnt that "half ten" is not
> > generally understood and I avoid it.
>
> Do you mean you are looked at blankly, as if you had just uttered word
> salad? Or do you find that the unfamiliar expression was interpreted as
> 9:30?
> --
> Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx

I learnt to avoid it so long ago that I cannot answer for sure but I
think that I would have remembered had it been like my German
experience.

We have numerous American visitors at work. Sometimes they are puzzled
by things that we say e.g. "I need petrol for my car". I don't recall
any conversations about "half ten" or other similar times. I expect
that they have occurred but the fact that they were not notable
suggests that again they were not like my German experience. I think
that I would have remembered if they called our usage nonsense. Of
course, they may have thought so but were too polite to say. Maybe
they have been turning up one hour early for any meeting scheduled at
"Half X" but again were too polite to say so. Many Americans are very
polite.

--
Seán O'Leathlóbhair

.

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