On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 08:19:02 -0600, uncle arnie
wrote:

I've never heard this before. What does "quarter of 10" mean? Is this
before 10 or after 10? I thought it was my hearing until this was
repeated. "quarter to" and "quarter after", rarely "quarter past" are all
usual ways of saying this around here. Though digital clocks make it "ten
fifteen". I think this must be a regionalism or slang for somewhere in the
USA (?).

Not US, as far as I know. My parents were from Ireland and
they always used "quarter of" for a quarter to the hour. Also "ten
(minutes) of" for minutes, etc. before the hour. Also quarter past and
half past for after the hour.

Another of their time phrasings was "He's one age to her"
meaning they were of the same age. None of those usages were common
among the people I grew up with in California.

Note: After the coming of digital wris****ches, someone once
said, "No one except a train conductor needs to know that it's eight
thirty-seven."




I also hear "zulu" said instead of UTC (or the old GMT).