• NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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    10 months ago

    It is a one syllable difference, at most. Fif-teen versus Quar-ter-Past. Or Thir-ty versus Half-past. And for-ty-five versus quar-ter-till.

    But it is also about precision. If I say “Let’s meet up at 4:45” that implies a lot more specificity than “let’s meet at quarter to five”. The firmer is an exact time people should meet at and the latter is “around that time”.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeopkvAP-ag goes into the difference between analog and digital time and what that means with thought processes. But a lot of it boils down to thinking in terms of “parts of a whole” versus “specific times”.