"half ten"

You heard it aright.
We had a little joke that if ever we asked what time it was, someone would reply "Arpers". And as often as not it was (in the vicinity of) arpers 10, arpers 12 and so on.
Cheers, Sage

Michael Hamm filted:
[nq:1]I think I heard an Irishman on the radio today saying "half ten" to mean 10:30. I find the usage interesting, if I heard right (did I?), inasmuch as in Yiddish 'halb tzen' ("half ten") means 9:30.[/nq]
You're a mathematician, Mike...shirley "half ten" means 5:00?...r

Michael Hamm had it:
[nq:1]I think I heard an Irishman on the radio today saying "half ten" to mean 10:30. I find the usage interesting, if I heard right (did I?), inasmuch as in Yiddish 'halb tzen' ("half ten") means 9:30.[/nq]
Entirely normal in UK (and presumably Irish) spoken English. The Yiddish version you quote follows the German form, which is how we can confuse Germans into arrivi

[nq:1]Michael Hamm had it:[/nq]
[nq:2]I think I heard an Irishman on the radio today ... inasmuch as in Yiddish 'halb tzen' ("half ten") means 9:30.[/nq]
[nq:1]Entirely normal in UK (and presumably Irish) spoken English. The Yiddish version you quote follows the German form, which is how we can confuse Germans into arriving an hour early.[/nq]
The problem with Germans is preventing

[nq:1]Michael Hamm had it:[/nq]
[nq:2]I think I heard an Irishman on the radio today ... I?),inasmuch as in Yiddish 'halb tzen' ("half ten") means 9:30.[/nq]
[nq:1]Entirely normal in UK (and presumably Irish) spoken English. The Yiddish version you quote follows the German form, which is how we can confuse Germans into arriving an hour early. David =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D replace usenet with the[/

[nq:1]Michael Hamm had it:[/nq]
[nq:2]I think I heard an Irishman on the radio today ... inasmuch as in Yiddish 'halb tzen' ("half ten") means 9:30.[/nq]
[nq:1]Entirely normal in UK (and presumably Irish) spoken English. The Yiddish version you quote follows the German form, which is how we can confuse Germans into arriving an hour early.[/nq]
So also in Russian: polovina desyatovo, li

[nq:1]So also in Russian: polovina desyatovo, literally "halfof-the-tenth" (hour). There, however, the use of the ordinal (and the genitive case) makes the interpretation clearer. At 9:30, half of the tenth hour has passed.[/nq]
Careful! You'll have the millennium argument started all over again.
Mike.

Uzytkownik "Joe Fineman" napisal w wiadomosci
[nq:1]So also in Russian: polovina desyatovo, literally "half of-the-tenth" (hour). There, however, the use of the ordinal (and the genitive case) makes the interpretation clearer. At 9:30, half of the tenth hour has passed.[/nq]
Isn't some sort of deletion the case here? In Polish we say "pol do desyatey" (half to ten). The 'do' ('to') is no

[nq:1]I think I heard an Irishman on the radio today saying "half ten" to mean 10:30. I find the usage interesting, if I heard right (did I?), inasmuch as in Yiddish 'halb tzen' ("half ten") means 9:30.[/nq]
I've heard English people say the same thing, but in Afrikaans, like Yiddish, it would mean an hour earlier.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa

[nq:1]I think I heard an Irishman on the radio today saying "half ten" to mean 10:30.[/nq]
It's quite common here in Britain. But I don't get why people don't similarly tend to say "quarter ten" or "twenty ten".

Stewart.

My e-mail is valid but not my primary mailbox. Please keep replies on the 'group where everyone may benefit.