Nigel Horne wrote: > Bowie Bailey wrote: > > Brian Morrison wrote: > > > M.S. Lucas wrote: > > > > > > > > In Dutch it is '19 January, 2006' just like 15:30 is `half four' > > > > and not 'half past three' > > > > > > That would really confuse people in the UK. "Half four" is verbal > > > shorthand for half *past* four whereas the Dutch (and German IIRC) > > > is more literally "half of four" (which isn't 2 either) meaning > > > half *before* four. I think the US uses this idiom too, BICBW. > > > > I can't speak for the US in general, but I've never heard that > > idiom. > > The OP said UK, not US. And (s)he is right, "half four" is short hand > for "half past four" here.
Well, I definitely can't speak for the UK from Florida! :) But my comments were in response to Brian's post: "I think the US uses this idiom too, BICBW." -- Bowie _______________________________________________ http://lurker.clamav.net/list/clamav-users.html