Re: those irregular prepositions

--- "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...> wrote:

<snip>
>
> What gets me is British timetelling.  "Half ten" is
> short for "half
> *past* ten", i.e. 10:30.  But I never encountered
> that phrasing in
> English until I met a Brit, which was later in life,
> after I'd already
> studied German.  So it sounds to me like it should
> mean 9:30 instead.
>
>
> --
> Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
>
Ah, those Brits are an odd bunch, eh? It's obvious to
any mathemetician that "half ten" is five. I suppose
their cake recipes call for "a half and a cup of
flour".

--gary

Reply