alt Hacker NewsSimilarly, when I moved from the UK to Canada, people often didn't understand what I meant when I said it was "half ten", which is the common way of saying ten thirty, at least where I grew up.
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gumby • today at 3:29 PM
I’m a “quarter past” person but I’ve always been confused by “half ten” (which thankfully isn’t used in Australia). But in German, “half ten” means 9:30, which is make more sense to me (probably because I’m used to how German speech often drops words, which is less common in English)
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mjlee • today at 3:30 PM
Next, go to Germany or the Netherlands where half ten means 9:30.
SanjayMehta • today at 3:20 PM
I never heard that when I lived in the UK in the 70s, but only in Ireland in the late 90s.
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Some Americans say ‘a quarter of X’ and even after 30 years I can’t remember if that’s before or after hour X.