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timber

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2006
1,286
2,394
Lisbon
After many years and browsing this thread it was just now that I thought to myself that perhaps it would be nice if one could chance forum preferences to have the 24 hour clock. And you can.
 
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polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Sep 9, 2020
2,111
2,580
Wales
I always wonder about the 12 or 24 hour clock system. From what I understand the US mainly uses the 12-hour clock whilst in Europe we use the 24-hour clock? I may be wrong?

It's strange as here in the UK in the office we can work until 1800 hrs but say 6 o'clock etc. No-one says "I'm working until eighteen hundred hours". We write in the 24 hour clock but speak in the 12.
Why not work until 18 o'clock?

Makes much sense if you have a clock with an actual 24-hour display - whether computer display or physical dial, etc. And I have chosen 24-hour display on my computers (when possible) for as long as I can remember.

Is there any reason to stop using "o'clock" just because the number of hours is greater than 12? And how silly to go seventeen-fifty-nine, six o'clock, eighteen-oh-one. :D
 

it wasnt me

macrumors 6502
Apr 18, 2019
269
160
the internet, mostly
In Germany, where ‘9-to-5 jobs’ are also actually ‘9-to-17 jobs’, we switch back and forth between ‘5 o'clock’ and ‘17 o'clock’ in our everyday lives, however we feel like it. Now that I think about it, I realise that we do make a difference: If we use the 12-hour clock, we say ‘at 5’ ("um 5"), otherwise we say ‘at 17 o'clock' ("um 17 Uhr").
 
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timber

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2006
1,286
2,394
Lisbon
Why not work until 18 o'clock?

Makes much sense if you have a clock with an actual 24-hour display - whether computer display or physical dial, etc. And I have chosen 24-hour display on my computers (when possible) for as long as I can remember.

Is there any reason to stop using "o'clock" just because the number of hours is greater than 12? And how silly to go seventeen-fifty-nine, six o'clock, eighteen-oh-one. :D
When you learn English as a foreigner one of the first things you are taught is the am/pm system.

Bui other languages also have equivalents to the "o'clock". We use 15 or "three in the afternoon" or just plain three interchangeably however it suits the speaker.
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,858
4,817
In Germany, where ‘9-to-5 jobs’ are also actually ‘9-to-17 jobs’, we switch back and forth between ‘5 o'clock’ and ‘17 o'clock’ in our everyday lives, however we feel like it. Now that I think about it, I realise that we do make a difference: If we use the 12-hour clock, we say ‘at 5’ ("um 5"), otherwise we say ‘at 17 o'clock' ("um 17 Uhr").

I found the mix interesting, we would say halb sechs (5:30) or viertel vor fünf (4:45) in Wien; the 24 hour time was used pretty much only with uhr, such as a store closing time of achtzehn uhr (18:00).
 

polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Sep 9, 2020
2,111
2,580
Wales
When you learn English as a foreigner one of the first things you are taught is the am/pm system.

Bui other languages also have equivalents to the "o'clock". We use 15 or "three in the afternoon" or just plain three interchangeably however it suits the speaker.
Indeed, Welsh has o’r gloch. Which rather emphasises the bell aspect.
 
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eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,603
28,365
Yes, we have pubs, but I am assuming that these are not necessarily the same as in other countries. For example The University Of Alaska in Fairbanks, has a pub for the students of adult age to have a beer or two. But most pubs like this one are very small in size. So I am also assuming that most Americans refer to pubs as "bars," but I have no idea why, since a bar where some food is served is still a pub. Well, there are some bars where no food is served, and then one can have a bar at home. My goodness! The more I think about bars, pubs, bar stools, pub stools...the more confused I become o_O
I'll just put this here. ;)

George and Dragon - Phoenix, AZ.


We have a rather larger than normal UK community in PHX.
 

polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Sep 9, 2020
2,111
2,580
Wales
A ‘pub’ or public house is typically a casual (come as you are) establishment for neighborhood locals selling simple food.
The American equivalent of a pub looks to be a local tavern.
I knew many UK pubs which wouldn't sell anything more meal-like than a packet of nuts (gradually revealing a scantily clad lady as the packets were removed from the display card) or crisps.

1729686236706.png
 

polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Sep 9, 2020
2,111
2,580
Wales
The military uses it but most regular people don't understand what it is. I don't know anybody in Britain who uses it in normal conversation except Sergeant-Majors.
I use it a lot. If, for example, I look at a weather forecast and it uses 24-hr clock, I'll rarely change to 12-hr format to pass on or discuss the information - spoken or written. Similarly with timetables which are almost universally 24-hr.

For example, I just agreed to meet this afternoon and in Messages typed:
1729686872413.png
 

SalisburySam

macrumors 6502a
May 19, 2019
921
809
Salisbury, North Carolina
I like the the way you use the 24-hour clock :)

We use both in the US. In the military the 24-hour clock is widely used while on duty, and so in most of the medical fields (hospitals, etc.), but when the workers leave the workplace they use the 12-hour clock.
Let’s not forget the huge aviation industry…all 24-hour based since forever. Back in the ‘60’s I earned my pilot’s license in high school and that was my first exposure to the 24-hour clock, which quickly became second nature. In the late ‘60’s I was invited (okay, drafted) into the military and had no difficulty by then with the 24-hour clock.

I’ve been comfortable with both designations for decades, as I have with metric and Imperial. Rarely do I need to convert one to the other for any purpose. It’s analogous to someone learning a new language. For a long time, you’ll constantly convert the new language to your native one, and vice versa. At some point of fluency, you’ll no longer have to convert and just begin to think in the new language as well as your native one. In my travels, I’ve always been amazed at people who can easily, fluently, and without thinking about it, converse with three other people in four different languages without missing a beat. Common in Europe, very common in the Far East, totally anathema to US citizenry unfortunately.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,603
28,365
…but American taverns are typically depressing places.
There's a tavern down the street and one near where we used to live. Both places I avoided like the plague because the kind of people that frequent them are not the type I generally associate with when they are sober, let alone drunk.

Unfortunately, the one down the street is next to a really good Chinese food place and so I go into that area often.
 
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decafjava

macrumors 603
Feb 7, 2011
5,498
8,009
Geneva
There's a tavern down the street and one near where we used to live. Both places I avoided like the plague because the kind of people that frequent them are not the type I generally associate with when they are sober, let alone drunk.

Unfortunately, the one down the street is next to a really good Chinese food place and so I go into that area often.
Pubs in Canada and in Europe are usually good places for food as well as drink. I would have thought with the growing number of artisanal beers that there would be many brewpubs which we have in the aforementioned places.
 

it wasnt me

macrumors 6502
Apr 18, 2019
269
160
the internet, mostly
Pubs in Canada and in Europe are usually good places for food as well as drink.

In my favourite pub in Germany (which is in Europe, I don't assume that all US-Americans here know that... ;-)) I can choose between a bowl of olives, a bowl of peanuts or a bockwurst. I know of several other German pubs that do not consider offering food as part of their service. That's fine, I go there for beer.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,603
28,365
Pubs in Canada and in Europe are usually good places for food as well as drink. I would have thought with the growing number of artisanal beers that there would be many brewpubs which we have in the aforementioned places.
Where this tavern is, it's not a place you'd find an 'artisanal' beer. They'd probably laugh you out of the tavern while rolling you for your cash.

By the Arizona Cardinals Stadium however, there are a couple of those types of places. It's a large commercial area with upscale shops, restaurants, hotels and drinking establishments. Plus a large conglomerate of commercial outlet stores. At least one of the establishments is a front end for the brewery that's in back.

There is live entertainment on weekends and special days, performances, etc where they shut the streets in that area down. To the south they are building the $1 billion VAI Resort.

That's the area you want to go in to. :D
 
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decafjava

macrumors 603
Feb 7, 2011
5,498
8,009
Geneva
Let’s not forget the huge aviation industry…all 24-hour based since forever. Back in the ‘60’s I earned my pilot’s license in high school and that was my first exposure to the 24-hour clock, which quickly became second nature. In the late ‘60’s I was invited (okay, drafted) into the military and had no difficulty by then with the 24-hour clock.

I’ve been comfortable with both designations for decades, as I have with metric and Imperial. Rarely do I need to convert one to the other for any purpose. It’s analogous to someone learning a new language. For a long time, you’ll constantly convert the new language to your native one, and vice versa. At some point of fluency, you’ll no longer have to convert and just begin to think in the new language as well as your native one. In my travels, I’ve always been amazed at people who can easily, fluently, and without thinking about it, converse with three other people in four different languages without missing a beat. Common in Europe, very common in the Far East, totally anathema to US citizenry unfortunately.
I wanted to join the Canadian military and fly jets and as an avid historian I read a lot and so was also familiar with military time. Very easy to switch - unlike imperial with which I have lost familiarity. BTW I wear glasses and so at the time realized I could not be a military pilot.

Returning to the pub subject, it is interesting that pints are still used in the US and UK, here in French-speaking Switzerland we ask for a "cannette" which is 500 ml rather than a pint.
 

GrayFlannel

Suspended
Feb 2, 2024
1,076
1,559
There's a tavern down the street and one near where we used to live. Both places I avoided like the plague because the kind of people that frequent them are not the type I generally associate with when they are sober, let alone drunk.

Unfortunately, the one down the street is next to a really good Chinese food place and so I go into that area often.

The neighborhood taverns where I grew up, whether located in small towns or in cities near a factory, were okay if you were known. But wander into some as an unknown you best mind yourself because it could be like being in a predatory saloon on the Barbary Coast.
 
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