Posted on Mar 14, 2010

Half-X (Strip)

BESIDE COUNTING THEIR UNITS BACKWARD, E.G. "THREE AND SIXTY" FOR SIXTY-THREE, GERMANS DON'T CONSIDER HOURS THE WAY WE DO...  YOU'LL NEVER HEAR "HALF PAST EIGHT" BECAUSE THEY'LL ALWAYS CONSIDER THE COMING HOUR AS THE REFERENCE, THEY'LL SAY "HALF NINE" INSTEAD  IT'S PRETTY LOGIC ACTUALLY... BUT STARTS TO BE DISTURBING WHEN THEY MIX THIS AND THAT AS IN "FIVE AFTER HALF NINE" OR "TEN TO THREE QUARTER NINE"... >_<

* actually I am not sure if this way of telling the time is really German or if it is just the way people do it in Bayern or Franken…

2 Comments

  • Rolyat says:

    Well, you know that in ye old English, the numbers were given like in German : twenty-two was said two and twenty (I have to find references but as far as I remember, it’s like that).

    As for the time, yep, it is really confusing: my wife got the German habit, and so sometimes I have to wonder whether she is speaking about 10:30 or 9:30!

    Moreover, in German, people are very patient sometimes : they have to wait the end of a long long long proposition to get the verb! :)

  • Tim says:

    In a way, Germans are thus forced to listen to each other… or at least let the other finish before answering ^^