12 or 24 hour

12 or 24 hour

  • 12

    Votes: 8 47.1%
  • 24

    Votes: 9 52.9%

  • Total voters
    17

nightshade

Your grandfather is a cat
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
18,371
Location
England
Black Thorn
What do you have your phone, watch etc set as, the 12 hour clock or the 24 hour?

I saw someone yesterday with it set as 12 hour, and it was so odd as I and everyone I know has it set as 24 hour.
 
The timers on my air con remotes and oven and microwave are all 24 hour, but my phone and laptop are 12 hour.
My watch and wall clocks are analogue and dont have any numbers on them at all.
 
My watch is 12 hour because it is analogue and you don't have the 24 hour option.

My phone is apparently 24 hour but I had to go and get it to check how it was set up. Because I have a watch on me so I don't use the phone for the time. Laptop, desktop and tablet are I think all 24 hours. My alarm clock is digital and 12 hours; I don't know if it has another option.
 
12 hour, but a lot of my friends have it 24 hour. I have no idea why I know that many people using 24 hour, though, because until I made these friends in college, I never knew anyone who used it.
 
NotASlayer
NotASlayer
I think it is often the default for phones, so if you can't be bothered changing it...
I like the 24 hour format, but so many people don't use it here that I stay on 12 out of mostly necessity.
 
24 hours for me...a hangover from my old job.
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
Cannot be me 'cos I gave up drinking eighteen years ago.
I like the 24 hour format, but so many people don't use it here that I stay on 12 out of mostly necessity.
What difference does it make? I wouldn't say it's 18:55 or 5 to 19, I'd say it's 6:55 or more likely say it's 5 to 7 (current time here)
 
And I understood everything you said, sort of.

Everything I own works on a 12 hour clock, I think. I wouldn't know how to change any of them anyway.
 
Wow this surprised me. As a clueless American, I had no idea 24 hr clocks were so commonplace in Europe or elsewhere in the world. I thought 24 hour clocks were mostly used by the military (e.g. 1400 hours.) If nightshade told me it's 18:55, I'd have to think about it for a second to do the mental math subtracting 12 from 18 to get it to something I would understand. 😅
 
Wow this surprised me. As a clueless American, I had no idea 24 hr clocks were so commonplace in Europe or elsewhere in the world. I thought 24 hour clocks were mostly used by the military (e.g. 1400 hours.) If nightshade told me it's 18:55, I'd have to think about it for a second to do the mental math subtracting 12 from 18 to get it to something I would understand. 😅

Yes, 24 hour clocks are common. The only reason I have any 12 hour ones is because one is a watch and the other is a cheap LED alarm clock that I am too lazy to check to see if it does 24 hours. 😀 Given what it cost, I doubt it has technological features that advanced.

But I doubt you'd find anyone actually saying something like 18:55 outside of certain professions, like the military. In general, you look at the time, and if it says 18:55, as @nightshade says, you'd say five to seven if asked what it was. I guess the mental maths is pretty automatic.
 
And I understood everything you said, sort of.

Everything I own works on a 12 hour clock, I think. I wouldn't know how to change any of them anyway.
Yeah my laptop and phone were automatically on 12 hour and I am not bothered enough to change them. It is easier to just read the time on the screen. Although I mostly look for the date because I can never remember that!

Wow this surprised me. As a clueless American, I had no idea 24 hr clocks were so commonplace in Europe or elsewhere in the world. I thought 24 hour clocks were mostly used by the military (e.g. 1400 hours.) If nightshade told me it's 18:55, I'd have to think about it for a second to do the mental math subtracting 12 from 18 to get it to something I would understand. 😅
Another trick is to subtract 2 from the second number. So 1400 - minus 2 from the 4 = 2.00pm or 18:55 - minus 2 from the 8 = 6.55pm, 2300 - minus 2 from the 3 = 11pm. Hope I have explained that so it makes sense!

more likely say it's 5 to 7

you'd say five to seven if asked what it was
I agree, 5 to 7. I always say this kind of thing, quarter to or quarter past, twenty to or twenty past, half past etc, but I have had a lot of younger people look at me pure puzzled.
 
I agree, 5 to 7. I always say this kind of thing, quarter to or quarter past, twenty to or twenty past, half past etc, but I have had a lot of younger people look at me pure puzzled.

My terminology tends to change through the hour. At 18:05 I a more likely to say 6:05, than five past six, but at 18:55 I am much more likely to say five to seven than 6:55.

Consistency? What's that? 😀
 
Back
Top Bottom