Re: NATLANG: One And A Half

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 11:50:21 -0400, J. 'Mach' Wust
<j_mach_wust@...> wrote:
> in certain regions
> of Germany, people also use 'three quarter the two' (dreiviertel zwei) in
> order to express '1.45' and even 'a quarter the two' (viertel zwei) for
> 1.15.
*nods* I associate that with eastern Germany.

> But many German speaking wouldn't understand the latter.
Or even the former. Though it's easier to translate "dreiviertel zwei"
into the standard(?) "viertel vor zwei" than it is to translate
"viertel zwei" into "viertel nach eins" (which also entails changing
the number at the end), so I think that "dreiviertel X" is slightly
more widely understood than "viertel X".

However, either variant may be met with blank stares by a fair number
of people who haven't heard the locution before, and I've heard from a
couple of people who use them natively that they've learned to avoid
them when speaking with people around here.

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
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