'half of' - time question

I've missed more than one appt. early on here, cause my brain had trouble processing half of anything!

OUCH!!   

LOL. i didn't want to ask the woman ?? as i did a bunch of times....dude, say it in ENGLISH please!

LOL. i didn't want to ask the woman ?? as i did a bunch of times....dude, say it in ENGLISH please!

Amy, you crack me up - if you had actually said "dude" to her, I would have paid good money to be a fly on the wall!!!

i got a '5 and 20 1'  today.   I took it to mean 1:25

Could there have been a "to" in there that you missed?   

This construction doesn't seem to be used as widely now as in the past, but when I was a kid here it was quite normal to hear phrases such as "5 and 20 to 1" or "5 and 20 past 9" (which would be 12:35 and 9:25 respectively).

I would say that the majority of Brits faced with something like "A quarter of ten" will either not understand what is meant, will recognize it as an American usage, or quite possibly both!  ("Er, that's American, right?  What does it mean?")

You'll find too that using before or after might get you some strange looks, e.g. "A quarter after 3."    British usage tends toward "to" and "past" exclusively.

Midday and "12 o'clock" are probably more commonly used in speech than noon, but I can't understand how anybody here could actually be confused by the use of noon.  Again, I remember it being used widely in the past.

P.S.   Oops!  Forgot to respond to the original query.    Whenever somebody here uses the simple expression "Half nine" or "Half two" it always means half past the specified hour.   

it could have been 5 and 20 TO 1.  yes!!!

she's 50, maybe she grew up using it?

You'll find too that using before or after might get you some strange looks, e.g. "A quarter after 3."    British usage tends toward "to" and "past" exclusively.

DH hates it when I say "after" rather than "past" - he's corrected me so much that it's actually starting to stick - and it takes me ages to, like, get over using figures of speech. 

she's 50, maybe she grew up using it?

Quite likely in that case.  I certainly remember my parents and grandparents using it regularly 30 years ago.

Midday and "12 o'clock" are probably more commonly used in speech than noon, but I can't understand how anybody here could actually be confused by the use of noon. Again, I remember it being used widely in the past.

I didn't say confused.  I said that they found it funny.  They think it sounds like 'High Noon' whenever I say it.   

I didn't say confused. I said that they found it funny. They think it sounds like 'High Noon' whenever I say it.

I've gotten funny looks when I say "noon" at the office.  Have finally broken myself of saying it to clients when making appointments.  They used to just kind of give me that silent "what did you just say?" pause...

My co-workers usually shout it back to me. 

I say I'm going to have lunch at noon.

They say NOON! HAHAHAHAHAHA

 

I didn't say confused.  I said that they found it funny.  They think it sounds like 'High Noon' whenever I say it.   

My mistake.   Maybe next time you're making a p.m. appointment you should tell them you'll meet with them at "three in the after-midday."