this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
772 points (98.0% liked)
Europe
8484 readers
3 users here now
News/Interesting Stories/Beautiful Pictures from Europe 🇪🇺
(Current banner: Thunder mountain, Germany, 🇩🇪 ) Feel free to post submissions for banner pictures
Rules
(This list is obviously incomplete, but it will get expanded when necessary)
- Be nice to each other (e.g. No direct insults against each other);
- No racism, antisemitism, dehumanisation of minorities or glorification of National Socialism allowed;
- No posts linking to mis-information funded by foreign states or billionaires.
Also check out !yurop@lemm.ee
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Interesting. ~~Regionally, some~~ Germans measure time like this, i.e. "half two" is 01:30 resp. 13:30. (Which is different from English, where people who say "half two" mean "half past two".)
I know very little about Danish, but I learned that Danes slur the middle of most words. So I suspect you actually pronounce even less of the word than you'd write..?
Belgian French gives me hope.
--
[Edited: Usage is not regional]
This isn't regional nor "some", I never met a German wo doesn't. Sure, there is "13 o'clock 30" and both are valid but I'd say the default is still the half system.
When it comes to quarters, there are regional differences and it's a common "ice breaker" or small talk topic when people from all over Germany come together.
I am dumb. I confused this with dreiviertel vs. Viertel vor.
Even then there's a pretty clear difference.
Good comparison here https://www.giga.de/ratgeber/specials/dreiviertel-10-viertel-12-wie-spaet-ist-es-wirklich/
It's pronounced "toh-år-hal-fems".
That's 3 syllables, because the first two are glissando, but even the most rural person needs some consonants between the rest to make any sense.
When we say "half two" we also mean 13:30. It's a pain when in Britain.
And yeah, I guess in pronouncing you'd say 92 as "to'å'l'fems" rather than "to-og-halv-fems".
I’ve run into Americans for whom “half two” means 13:30. I like it but it confuses everyone.