Linguistic Curiosity

[chezmax]

[Poll #1405543]

Comments

[beergoddess.livejournal.com]

I believe quarter of 8 is 8:15

[chezmax]

I don't believe so; I've heard it in a couple places, and they've told me it means 15 minutes before.

[nekura-ca.livejournal.com]

A quarter of eight, or a quarter OFF eight?

[chezmax]

Quarter of.

[fallyn-angel.livejournal.com]

Remember that phone game you used to play in a round as a kid?

Quarter off 8 makes more sense, but I wonder if just over time it got misheard and people started saying quarter of 8.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

I learned it as "quarter of an hour remaining before $HOUR", in effect. In practice, we just learned it as "quarter of".

[insaint.livejournal.com]

Last time I heard it used, I believe that was the meaning.

[indigofire-net.livejournal.com]

It's a North-east US thing, that means the opposite: quarter of is equivalent to quarter to... but MA and NH are the only places I've heard it used.

... yes, they're very silly people.

-iF

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

I could probably locate some artifacts of your culture which I found silly, but I think I'd hesitate before labelling them so publicly.

[indigofire-net.livejournal.com]

Please do! Silly cultural references are great fun :D

Humans are silly creatures. And if you define a culture that doesn't involve anything silly as being as silly concept, then by definition all cultures are silly!

-iF

(Two quick notes: 1) I don't mean silly in a mean way. Silly is often good. 2) I've been coding on little sleep all day, and getting a little punchy. Not that that excuses any behaviour, just explaining that my intent is not to be offensive)

Other

[indigofire-net.livejournal.com]

1945

or

2345Z (in the current time zone. That's why UTC is preferred.)

-iF

Re: Other

[chezmax]

The time was presented without reference to any time zone; that's not relevant :)

Re: Other

[indigofire-net.livejournal.com]

Now that's even more important: the time zone information is lost! Far from irrelevant, I've seen many problems arise from both of these problems.

Re: Other

[chezmax]

In a dicussion of linguistics, the timezone is not relevant ;) I understand in *general*, the time zone information is quite important.

Re: Other

[indigofire-net.livejournal.com]

This sounds very much like a question my father would bug me with a long time ago:

Which is more correct: the yolk of an egg is white, or the yolks of eggs are white?

-iF

[gharbad.livejournal.com]

I was gonna choice other and say "Seven forty five" but went with the helpful answer.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

This varies regionally across the English-speaking world, along with a host of other time-specifying words ("next", $DAY-week, and so on). There are places where quarter of means a quarter of the next hour, and places where it means "we're short by a quarter of" the next hour.

As such, the answer is, "Where?"

[chezmax]

"Where" is actually the question. The purpose of the poll is to see who, personally, would say 'quarter of 8' to mean 7:45.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Oh, then me. I use it like that. :)

I'd say "quarter past" for 8:15, and "quarter of" for 7:45.

I'm also used to saying "half five", meaning "5:30" - it's what I grew up with in the UK and with my family retaining some UK habits in the home - where Americans, if they use "half-$HOUR" at all, generally use it to mean halfway through the named hour, i.e., 4:30 (German influence).

[fweebles.livejournal.com]

Well, then your poll isn't working. :) I would say that a quarter of 8 is 7:45 and not 8:15, but I also wouldn't use it in common speech, especially when compared with "quarter to eight".

That is to say, for me, "quarter to eight" and "quarter of eight" are synonymous. As opposed to "quarter after eight".

[chezmax]

I think it's working. I'm looking for people who would say quarter of 8 in casual conversation. I noticed someone write it in their LJ this weekend, and I wanted to see how common it was. (Apparently, not very).

[quatch.livejournal.com]

I demand a map!

[halfwitted.livejournal.com]

The PH4 convention I am trying to accomplish is seven hours forty five or nineteen hours forty five.

[moonrose.livejournal.com]

amusingly enough, I saw the first comments as I went to leave mine and it's exactly my issue - I always WANTED to use 'of' but I can't ever sort out if that means before or after. So I use quarter to and quarter after.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I voted (not for other), but I prefix "a" -- "a quarter to 8" sometimes, but not consistently.

[ziusudra.livejournal.com]

Quarter 'til 8

[maestrojlr.livejournal.com]

I think this is fascinating, because I'd gotten into this conversation with another Canadian before (you've even met!)

I do say "quarter of" and "quarter after" - this was a curiosity to him, because he didn't quite understand what I meant. I don't even know where I got it from, but one of the previous comments is correct. It's "quarter of" if the hour is assumed, but I don't ever say "quarter of [hour]." I'm more likely just to say "[hour] forty-five" if the hour is needed.

Sounds so complicated for such a little thing, doesn't it? Then again, I almost went through the roof when I found out that in your supermarkets there's actually a "pop" aisle. Soda doesn't exist there. *grin* O NOES NOT TEH SODA!

Pronunciations are also a fun thing between the two of us. Ah, little cultural differences that provide hours of entertainment.

[chezmax]

You coming up again anytime soon?