Telling time in U. K. English - Page 23

Bookworm_Girl · 08-04-2011, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Do they still have "time" (speaking clock) as a telephone service? My folks would've been furious when the bill arrived if I'd ever called it! In books, I've heard of folks calling it and pretending to have a conversation such as "Why Myrtle, you have a temperature of 102! I'll be right over with some extra strength aspirin!" to get rid of an unwanted guest.

When I lived in the Midwest, it was "quarter 'til" and "quarter after". In the West, I find "quarter to" is more common.

What do you mean by speaking clock service? A real person or automated? When I was a kid, we used to call a phone number to get an automated time and temperature report. We mostly used it to check the weather when you were getting ready for school and planning what to wear. It was a local number and free. With the internet and smartphones, this service has become obsolete. I guess it is sort of like the current trend that fewer people wear watches.

HarryT · 08-04-2011, 12:02 PM

British Telecom's "speaking clock" service (which you get by dialling "123") has just celebrated its 75 anniversary. It's an automated service which still gets 30 million calls a year, despite costing 31p (about 50c) to call.

murraypaul · 08-05-2011, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

One thing that really bugs me is when manufacturers call any sort of herbal infusion "tea". "Tea" is something that grows on a tea plant; if it's camomile or some sort of other herb, I'm sure it's very nice to drink, but it's not tea!

Yes, yes and one thousand times yes.
I thought I was the only one annoyed by this.
If it doesn't have tea in it in, it isn't tea!
It would be like calling pork chops steak.

Freeshadow · 08-05-2011, 11:38 AM

or the white stuff "white chocolade"

pdurrant · 08-05-2011, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

or the white stuff "white chocolade"

I call it white chocolate because it has cocoa butter in it.

Bookworm_Girl · 08-05-2011, 12:45 PM

White chocolate is so yummy specifically because it does not contain cocoa solids if you don't care for chocolate like me. They both originate from cocoa beans and that is good enough for me to call it chocolate.

I get your comment, but most people probably don't know that there actually is a real product called pork steak. It comes from the shoulder of the pig. It is a staple of St. Louis style BBQ. It is very, very yummy! Now my mouth is watering!

Bookworm_Girl · 08-12-2011, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMB

How about deep-fried Mars bars then? I must say I've never wanted nor had one, and the same for chip butties.

So I was just browsing the Daily Mail online and ironically found this article about the Iowa State Fair serving deep fried butter! Sometimes I think the DM has more interesting news about America than you read in our papers here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tate-Fair.html

Bikeridr · 08-13-2011, 08:49 AM

Wow, 23 pages in about one month discussing British way of telling time

Well, as a native Norwegian, when we learned "Oxford English" at school (then mandatory from 4th grade at age of 10, we started school at age of 7) we were taught:
5:35 = "The time is twentyfive to six".
What confused most of us was the "Half past five" since in Norway "Half six" means "half to six" (5:30), as in German, Dutch, Swedish and Danish (and probably other languages).

Another thing in Norway and also (maybe not common but occuring) in German is that 5:35 is "five-past-half-six" (NO="Fem-over-halv-seks" DE="Fünf-nach-halb-sechs").

Though Russian is *very* different.
"piyat-chertvyorta" means something like "five-into-fourth". That may be translated into "five minutes into the fourth hour" and means five past three..

vans · 08-13-2011, 02:49 PM

I have just finished reading "The Pacific" and thought of this thread.

The dates are written as, "June 6" or "July 1". I read them as "6th of June" or "1st of July." I assume Americans would read these dates as "June Six" or "July One"? In everyday conversation is that how Americans generally express dates? Are there regional differences?

Bookworm_Girl · 08-13-2011, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vans

I have just finished reading "The Pacific" and thought of this thread.

The dates are written as, "June 6" or "July 1". I read them as "6th of June" or "1st of July." I assume Americans would read these dates as "June Six" or "July One"? In everyday conversation is that how Americans generally express dates? Are there regional differences?

For your example, we typically would read/speak them as June 6th or July 1st. We formally write dates as June 6, 2011 for instance. Day is simply a number. We sometimes write dates as June 6th or July 1st, usually when there is no reference to a year. We do also sometimes (but less frequently) verbalize or write a date as "the 6th of June" for example. There doesn't seem to be any reason why I might say or write one over the other, just whichever travels from my brain to my mouth first.

mjhudston · 08-13-2011, 05:27 PM

I have confused many americans by saying 25 to 6 as an answer to the time, instead of 6 35 ot 1835.

But then when they here the accent, they usually forget that they are busy going somewhere and just love to talk. Us Brits and our many "eccentric" ways seem to be a novelty to many Americans.

HarryT · 08-14-2011, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjhudston

I have confused many americans by saying 25 to 6 as an answer to the time, instead of 6 35 ot 1835.

I imagine that would be confusing. 6:35 is "25 to 7", not 6.

DMB · 08-14-2011, 07:27 PM

I always get confused by American dates when they are entirely numerical. In most of Europe the dates are usually given in ascending or descending order of time interval, i.e. either dd:mm:yyyy or yyyy:mm:dd whereas most Americans prefer mm:dd:yyyy. It took me several years to get firmly in my head that when the horrible attack on the World Trade Center etc. was referred to as 9/11, it didn't mean 9th November.

wodin · 08-15-2011, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

For your example, we typically would read/speak them as June 6th or July 1st. We formally write dates as June 6, 2011 for instance. Day is simply a number. We sometimes write dates as June 6th or July 1st, usually when there is no reference to a year. We do also sometimes (but less frequently) verbalize or write a date as "the 6th of June" for example. There doesn't seem to be any reason why I might say or write one over the other, just whichever travels from my brain to my mouth first.

I have never (or infrequently enough to not remember) heard anyone calling the fourth of July anything other than the fourth of July, unless of course they called it Independance Day.

Bookworm_Girl · 08-15-2011, 02:21 PM

I have heard July 4th. I think it is more common to say "the 4th of July" when referring to the holiday by name rather than Independence Day. I suppose it is to make special emphasis of the importance of this specific date in America's history. Do a google search and you'll find several examples of July 4th.

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08-04-2011, 12:02 PM	#332
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,555 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	British Telecom's "speaking clock" service (which you get by dialling "123") has just celebrated its 75 anniversary. It's an automated service which still gets 30 million calls a year, despite costing 31p (about 50c) to call.

08-05-2011, 11:38 AM	#334
Freeshadow temp. out of service Posts: 2,815 Karma: 24285242 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Duisburg (DE) Device: PB 623	or the white stuff "white chocolade"

08-05-2011, 12:45 PM	#336
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,873 Karma: 36536965 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	White chocolate is so yummy specifically because it does not contain cocoa solids if you don't care for chocolate like me. They both originate from cocoa beans and that is good enough for me to call it chocolate. I get your comment, but most people probably don't know that there actually is a real product called pork steak. It comes from the shoulder of the pig. It is a staple of St. Louis style BBQ. It is very, very yummy! Now my mouth is watering!

08-13-2011, 08:49 AM	#338
Bikeridr Information Acquirer Posts: 436 Karma: 4265156 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Latvia, Rigas Rajons Device: Kindle 3 International, Pocketbook Color	Wow, 23 pages in about one month discussing British way of telling time Well, as a native Norwegian, when we learned "Oxford English" at school (then mandatory from 4th grade at age of 10, we started school at age of 7) we were taught: 5:35 = "The time is twentyfive to six". What confused most of us was the "Half past five" since in Norway "Half six" means "half to six" (5:30), as in German, Dutch, Swedish and Danish (and probably other languages). Another thing in Norway and also (maybe not common but occuring) in German is that 5:35 is "five-past-half-six" (NO="Fem-over-halv-seks" DE="Fünf-nach-halb-sechs"). Though Russian is very different. "piyat-chertvyorta" means something like "five-into-fourth". That may be translated into "five minutes into the fourth hour" and means five past three..

08-13-2011, 02:49 PM	#339
vans Zealot Posts: 103 Karma: 1141216 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: ipad, Elonix 621eb, Asus Transformer, Sony PRS505	I have just finished reading "The Pacific" and thought of this thread. The dates are written as, "June 6" or "July 1". I read them as "6th of June" or "1st of July." I assume Americans would read these dates as "June Six" or "July One"? In everyday conversation is that how Americans generally express dates? Are there regional differences?

08-13-2011, 05:27 PM	#341
mjhudston All round good egg Posts: 229 Karma: 1005039 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: Apple Ipad 3rd Generation	I have confused many americans by saying 25 to 6 as an answer to the time, instead of 6 35 ot 1835. But then when they here the accent, they usually forget that they are busy going somewhere and just love to talk. Us Brits and our many "eccentric" ways seem to be a novelty to many Americans.

08-14-2011, 07:27 PM	#343
DMB Old Git Posts: 958 Karma: 1840790 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Switzerland (mostly) Device: Two kindle PWs wifi, kindle fire, iPad3 wifi	I always get confused by American dates when they are entirely numerical. In most of Europe the dates are usually given in ascending or descending order of time interval, i.e. either dd:mm:yyyy or yyyy:mm:dd whereas most Americans prefer mm:dd:yyyy. It took me several years to get firmly in my head that when the horrible attack on the World Trade Center etc. was referred to as 9/11, it didn't mean 9th November.

08-15-2011, 02:21 PM	#345
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,873 Karma: 36536965 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	I have heard July 4th. I think it is more common to say "the 4th of July" when referring to the holiday by name rather than Independence Day. I suppose it is to make special emphasis of the importance of this specific date in America's history. Do a google search and you'll find several examples of July 4th.