Everything Fun

Quarter to Three, Half Past One

Terms that have mostly disappeared in the US

Photo by Jeanne Rouillard on Unsplash

“What time do we have to leave?” asked my niece.

“Quarter to three,” I responded.

“Whaa?”

I clarified, “2:45.”

For those who only speak “American” English, the digital age has relegated the “quarter to’s” and “half pasts” to the dust bin (What’s a dust bin?)

While the French language still employs the word “demi”, and Spanish uses “media” to represent half past the hour (this is what I was taught in language classes, please correct me if this still isn’t the case), it is rare that I hear a North American English speaker under the age of 40 use the term “half” when referring to 30 minutes past the hour.

The under-40 crowd speaks in digital terms when referring to time.

Never mind Roman numerals. I’m 63 (LXIII), and I was taught this mnemonic device for deciphering Roman numerals: M=Mom=1000, D=Dad=500, C=Child=100, L=Lucy=50.

I know, it didn’t make sense then and it doesn’t make sense now, but it was drilled into my consciousness, and thus I remember it. It’s strange that there was no X=Xavier=10, V=Vivian=5, or I=Irene=1. I just made those up. Feel free to use…