In the UK we all (generally) read 24 hour but speak in 12 hour. So we see 15:00 but say 3. Only military peeps talk on 24, and it can sound weird, but people can easily understand them as long as they can parse the who “-hundred” thing (15:00 being fifteen-hundred)
Bulgarian here, same story. 24 hour removes the ambiguity in written form without the need for a suffix, 12 hour is shorter in speech and 99% of the time it doesn’t need specifying because the AM/PM is evident from the context.
Dutchie here, same for me. In English it’s easy to say 3pm or 9pm but in Dutch that would be 3 uur 's middags (in the afternoon) or 9 uur 's avonds (in the evening) so 15 uur and 21 uur is shorter to say. However, when it’s “am” I always say 's nachts (at night) or 's ochtends (in the morning) to avoid confusion. But all digital clocks in NL are on 24h. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with a 12h notation on their phone or anything else. It’s such a standard, I don’t even think my oven and microwave have a 12h notation option.
I think it’s just a case of uneducated ignorant Americans stuck in the past, while also having no clue there exists a rest of the world where people are not weird. Like with their imperial system and IALA buoys system (for the entire American continents by the way).
I don’t speak the language, but this looks like it would literally translate to something like “half of the fourth hour” which in English we might say as “half past three”. Kind of interesting that we might say “quarter to four” to mean 3:45, but never “half til four” to mean 3:30.
Yup, it is just half an hour before, very commonly used here. There’s some other English language (Australian?) where it means the opposite - totally not confusing.
We also use quarter to/quarter past as well of course
In the UK we all (generally) read 24 hour but speak in 12 hour. So we see 15:00 but say 3. Only military peeps talk on 24, and it can sound weird, but people can easily understand them as long as they can parse the who “-hundred” thing (15:00 being fifteen-hundred)
Bulgarian here, same story. 24 hour removes the ambiguity in written form without the need for a suffix, 12 hour is shorter in speech and 99% of the time it doesn’t need specifying because the AM/PM is evident from the context.
In Denmark it’s always written in 24hr, but I’d say it’s 50/50 whether we say 3 or 15 for 15:00.
I guess saying 3 is more casual. But we never use “hundred”. 15:30 would just be fifteen-thirty.
Dutchie here, same for me. In English it’s easy to say 3pm or 9pm but in Dutch that would be 3 uur 's middags (in the afternoon) or 9 uur 's avonds (in the evening) so 15 uur and 21 uur is shorter to say. However, when it’s “am” I always say 's nachts (at night) or 's ochtends (in the morning) to avoid confusion. But all digital clocks in NL are on 24h. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with a 12h notation on their phone or anything else. It’s such a standard, I don’t even think my oven and microwave have a 12h notation option.
I think it’s just a case of uneducated ignorant Americans stuck in the past, while also having no clue there exists a rest of the world where people are not weird. Like with their imperial system and IALA buoys system (for the entire American continents by the way).
I think most of Europe uses 24h in writing but 12h when speaking.
Actually the French use 24h and speak 24h.
Leftovers of the military mindset from Napoleon, I’m sure of it!
Nah 24h time was introduced by the US in Europe during WW2.
How, they don’t understand it themselves
It is similar in Germany. Often with the word Uhr (like o’clock in english) added.
“3 Uhr” or “15 Uhr 30”
Yep, though we also have “Klokken halv 4” which is especially confusing for foreigners
I don’t speak the language, but this looks like it would literally translate to something like “half of the fourth hour” which in English we might say as “half past three”. Kind of interesting that we might say “quarter to four” to mean 3:45, but never “half til four” to mean 3:30.
Yup, it is just half an hour before, very commonly used here. There’s some other English language (Australian?) where it means the opposite - totally not confusing.
We also use quarter to/quarter past as well of course
Some people from eastern parts of germany go with stuff like “Dreiviertel 3” - three-quarters 3 - 14:45 Uhr.
A good way of keeping the time-information secret, I am certainly too slow to translate that.
Same thing in Argentina. As usual, USA are the weird ones xD