Literature The British English vs American English thread!

[lucky_charm]

This is a subject of quite some interest to me, so I thought I'd start a thread about it. This has had some discussion in the "Post something cool from the internet" thread, when someone posted
about "19 Confounding Discrepancies, etc."

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19 Confounding Discrepancies Between American English and British English​

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Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/147607#ixzz2Cttky2o3 ​

--brought to you by mental_floss!​

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/147607

Anyway, let me start with something trivial--expressions for time.

I had some Scottish friends visiting last year, and they could not believe that Americans would say "half past four" to mean 4:30. They would just say "half four," an expression that Americans might find confusing.

I was watching the TV program Call the Midwife and they used the expression "half past" several times.

So I am a bit confused. Now, that drama is set in the 1950s. So has British usage on this changed over the past 50 years or so? Or do British people use both expressions? Or what is the story here?

P.S. I hear many expressions in Call the Midwife that I can't even find in unabridged dictionaries,
so this is an endless source of curiosity to me.

Scot here- I would almost always say half four... The past might occasionally make it in there, but not normally.

 

[alligatortears]

Scot here- I would almost always say half four... The past might occasionally make it in there, but not normally.

I would say half past four, half four or half past.

 

[Alice-Bee]

Yeah another vote for the 'half' term.
Id usually say half four...occasionally half past (assuming that people knew which "hour" Im talking about)
Id also say quarter past and quarter to.

 

[ledboots]

Yeah another vote for the 'half' term.
Id usually say half four...occasionally half past (assuming that people knew which "hour" Im talking about)
Id also say quarter past and quarter to.

I say quarter till or quarter past, too. (US)

 

[RabbitLuvr]

I'm also confused by "half four," as I can never figure out if it means 3:30 or 4:30.

I always say all the numbers instead of halves or quarters or past or 'til. Easier.

 

[shyvas]

Half past four or four thirty.

 

[kazyeeqen]

Sometimes when I find myself looking at a non-digital clock I get confused about the appropriate terminology and end up saying something like, fourteen minutes until a half an hour past four...

 

[Mel]

Sometimes when I find myself looking at a non-digital clock I get confused about the appropriate terminology and end up saying something like, fourteen minutes until a half an hour past four...

You mean 4:16? (Not even sure I understood you right...lol)

 

[kazyeeqen]

You mean 4:16? (Not even sure I understood you right...lol)

Your guess is as good as mine.

 

[KLS52]

I say four thirty. If it's 15 minutes past I say, four fifteen, or, to shake things up, it's "a quarter after four".

 

[Alice-Bee]

I'm also confused by "half four," as I can never figure out if it means 3:30 or 4:30.

I always say all the numbers instead of halves or quarters or past or 'til. Easier.

When used in the UK it will mean half past the hour (so half four means 4.30) I believe in Europe the term means half to the next hour so saying half four means 3.30

 

[shyvas]

When used in the UK it will mean half past the hour (so half four means 4.30) I believe in Europe the term means half to the next hour so saying half four means 3.30

I've never heard that before.
In most European countries they use the 24 hr clock ( as do most airline companies) i.e. 4.30 pm is 16 h30.

 

[AeryFairy]

I've never heard that before.
In most European countries they use the 24 hr clock ( as do most airline companies) i.e. 4.30 pm is 16 h30.

I know that in Belgium, 'half four' means 'half to four' (3.30) and so on. And I've always used 'half four' as 4.30. When me and my Belgian friend ask each other for the time, and it's half past an hour, things get confusing.

 

[shyvas]

I know that in Belgium, 'half four' means 'half to four' (3.30) and so on. And I've always used 'half four' as 4.30. When me and my Belgian friend ask each other for the time, and it's half past an hour, things get confusing.

Yes, especially if you have a train to catch !

 

[Spidergrrl]

When we first moved to UK and I would ask people the time they would say "half past" and i would be like Half past WHAT? Because i need the hour as well. That drives me mad. I still tend to say "4:30" but at school say "half 11" when kids ask what time i am coming to teach their little group.

 

[Alice-Bee]

Im sure when I learnt German at school they taught is that the time is always half to the next hour...so half 4 means 3.30. That was over 15 years ago though.

 

[Freesia]

I always strugle with halves and quarters. I like best to say 4.30 or 4.42. Sometimes I will say it is 4.00 if it is close, like 3.52 or something..

 

[RabbitLuvr]

I always strugle with halves and quarters. I like best to say 4.30 or 4.42. Sometimes I will say it is 4.00 if it is close, like 3.52 or something..

This.

 

[hungryraccoon]

It's probably confusing because we should say 'half past four' (for example) but we shorten it to 'half four'. When you say half past, it's obviously a lot clear that it means 4:30.

 

[Joe]

Just to let you know, there's already a thread for this.

http://forum.veggieviews.com/threads/the-british-english-vs-american-english-thread.1363/

Ok, sorry. My bad. Thanks for consolidating my post into this thread.