• @pedz@lemmy.ca
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    525 days ago

    Time is weird. Even in the same language some people will tell time differently.

    In French my parents are used to fractions while I don’t. So for me 9:45 is nine hours fourty five but for them it’s ten hours minus the quarter.

    • Canadian_Cabinet
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      225 days ago

      You can go both ways in Spanish, but “hour minus X” is definitely less popular with younger people. Does any time in the latter half work with that approach in French? For example, in Spanish you can call 9:39 “10 minus 21”

      • @pedz@lemmy.ca
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        225 days ago

        It works and would be understood but it would also be odd. The unwritten rule is to round up to a multiple of 5.

      • @uhmbah@lemmy.ca
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        525 days ago

        Yep. French Canadian is the same:

        9:45 - 10 hours less a quarter

        Dix heures moin la quart

        8:15 - 8 hours and quarter

        Huit heures et quart

      • @pedz@lemmy.ca
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        25 days ago

        Yeah, as in, if you take a quarter of an hour (15 minutes) from 10, it’s 9:45.

        They also use minus ten, minus twenty or even minus twenty-five.

        Ten hours minus twenty-five is 9:35.

        Ten hours minus twenty is 9:40.

        Ten hours minus (a/the) quarter is 9:45.

        Ten hours minus ten is 9:50.

        I find it confusing and never got used to this system. It feels old fashioned and it’s not even faster to say. But it’s still pretty common while being informal.

      • @Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe
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        325 days ago

        I think it’s similar to saying “quarter to ten”, and I suspect it’s a result of how numbers/counting work in French.