OT: Time (Was: Clockwise without clocks)

Hi!

Joe <joe@...> writes:
>...
> Also, Estonian (my current obsession) has an even more interesting
> system.  In Estonian, 'quarter past nine' by 'veerand kümme' - literally
> 'a quarter of ten'.  Similarly, 'pool kümme'(half of ten) and
> 'kolmveerand kümme' (three quarters of ten) are 'half past nine' and
> 'quarter to ten', respectively.
Ah, funny. :-)  That's the same in most southern German dialects:

   viertel zehn     = 9:15
   halb zehn        = 9:30
   dreiviertel zehn = 9:45

Of these, only 'halb zehn' is considered Standard High German.

My dialect allows 'zehn vor halb zehn' (ten to half ten) = 9:20, but
I'm not sure how universal that is.  Most seem to allow 'fünf vor halb
zehn' for 9:25, but use 'zwanzig nach neun' for 9:20.

**Henrik

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