5 ms·

Is a 24 hour clock really that common in the EU? I can use both because it's not exactly hard to read 24 hour time, but I have noticed its kind of rare in the U

Is a 24 hour clock really that common in the EU? I can use both because it's not exactly hard to read 24 hour time, but I have noticed its kind of rare in the US. I didn't think it was common let alone the norm in Europe though. Edit: Appreciate all the replies, thank you.

coumbaya 3y ago
I don't know about the rest of the EU, but in france any digital display is 24 hour yeah (fridge, car, watch, you name it).
whyoh 3y ago
24H is definitely the norm when the time is written down or displayed on a screen. But when spoken, people often/mostly say "at 4" rather than "at 16" (I think this varies somewhat from country to country).
- fuzzfactor 3y ago
  In the USA I do get an unfamiliar reaction sometimes when I say I want to get to someplace early, like about "quarter 'til 16" or so.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>Is a 24 hour clock really that common in the EU? In written and official setting yes, time is always specified in 24H. But depending on culture and language, in speak most people use the 12H sistem because the AM/PM is implied to be obvious from the context and 24h one has too many syllables: "Let's meet tonight at seven" instead of "Let's meet tonight at nine-teen."
nottorp 3y ago
Where it matters it's 24 hours. You'll never see event schedules, train timetables, store opening hours etc as "6pm". Only "18:00". In speech we use 12 hours. But then it's mostly clear from context. Tbh I don't see how you can live with 12 hour clocks on appliances in the US. I bought a Cuisinart coffee filter and it has the 12 hour clock and an invisible dot that shows am or pm. It can also be set to start on its own at a certain hour. 60% of the time, when I change the settings i get it wrong because who the hell can see that dot?
ajuc 3y ago
In Poland in 90s people still used 12h clock slightly more often than 24h (but both were used interchangeably). Nowadays only really old people use 12h by default. Everything's in 24h. It's just much better. People might still say "meet at 7" instead of 19 for a shortcut it it's obvious from the context, but they will write it as 19:00 and think of it as 19:00. BTW we never did "am" vs "pm", we had "1..11 morning" -> "12 noon" -> "1..11 afternoon" -> "12 midnight". And for afternoon hours the "afternoon" was usually skipped. So no 12 am/pm confusion. I could never get used to the American am/pm.
- 6510 3y ago
  Kinda weird now that you bring it up. We use 13 and say 1, 14 we call 2, 15 is 3, 16 is 4, 17 is 5, 18 is 6, 19 is 7, 20 is 8, 21 is 9, 22 is 10, 23 is 11 and last but not least 0 means 12. It seems like a bad idea if I've ever seen 13.
fenring 3y ago
in polish, there is no equivalent to "AM" and "PM" shortcuts (and am/pm itself is not used) - that should explain that 24h is the only time format we use in text. You can use 12h orally, as was explained earlier - in most situations it's obvious if it's AM/PM.
Dah00n 3y ago
In my more than four decades of life, I have yet to learn AM and PM for long enough for it to stick. So, yes.
anthk 3y ago
Spaniard here. We speak in terms of 1-12 hours but we know to parse 17:00 as 5PM in the spot. As they stated, we write down 17:00 but to speak it aloud to the rest of people we will just say 'five o'clock in the evening'.
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  > We speak in terms of 1-12 hours but we know to parse 17:00 as 5PM in the spot. This is how it is for me as well, once you learn 24h time it's about as simple as can be, and I learned when I was a kid. I don't think I've ever lived anywhere where 24h time was the norm for writing/displaying though - or maybe I just didn't notice because I'm fine with it.

coumbaya 3y ago

I don't know about the rest of the EU, but in france any digital display is 24 hour yeah (fridge, car, watch, you name it).

whyoh 3y ago

24H is definitely the norm when the time is written down or displayed on a screen. But when spoken, people often/mostly say "at 4" rather than "at 16" (I think this varies somewhat from country to country).

fuzzfactor 3y ago
In the USA I do get an unfamiliar reaction sometimes when I say I want to get to someplace early, like about "quarter 'til 16" or so.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

>Is a 24 hour clock really that common in the EU? In written and official setting yes, time is always specified in 24H. But depending on culture and language, in speak most people use the 12H sistem because the AM/PM is implied to be obvious from the context and 24h one has too many syllables: "Let's meet tonight at seven" instead of "Let's meet tonight at nine-teen."

nottorp 3y ago

Where it matters it's 24 hours. You'll never see event schedules, train timetables, store opening hours etc as "6pm". Only "18:00". In speech we use 12 hours. But then it's mostly clear from context. Tbh I don't see how you can live with 12 hour clocks on appliances in the US. I bought a Cuisinart coffee filter and it has the 12 hour clock and an invisible dot that shows am or pm. It can also be set to start on its own at a certain hour. 60% of the time, when I change the settings i get it wrong because who the hell can see that dot?

ajuc 3y ago

In Poland in 90s people still used 12h clock slightly more often than 24h (but both were used interchangeably). Nowadays only really old people use 12h by default. Everything's in 24h. It's just much better. People might still say "meet at 7" instead of 19 for a shortcut it it's obvious from the context, but they will write it as 19:00 and think of it as 19:00. BTW we never did "am" vs "pm", we had "1..11 morning" -> "12 noon" -> "1..11 afternoon" -> "12 midnight". And for afternoon hours the "afternoon" was usually skipped. So no 12 am/pm confusion. I could never get used to the American am/pm.

6510 3y ago
Kinda weird now that you bring it up. We use 13 and say 1, 14 we call 2, 15 is 3, 16 is 4, 17 is 5, 18 is 6, 19 is 7, 20 is 8, 21 is 9, 22 is 10, 23 is 11 and last but not least 0 means 12. It seems like a bad idea if I've ever seen 13.

fenring 3y ago

in polish, there is no equivalent to "AM" and "PM" shortcuts (and am/pm itself is not used) - that should explain that 24h is the only time format we use in text. You can use 12h orally, as was explained earlier - in most situations it's obvious if it's AM/PM.

Dah00n 3y ago

In my more than four decades of life, I have yet to learn AM and PM for long enough for it to stick. So, yes.

anthk 3y ago

Spaniard here. We speak in terms of 1-12 hours but we know to parse 17:00 as 5PM in the spot. As they stated, we write down 17:00 but to speak it aloud to the rest of people we will just say 'five o'clock in the evening'.

PrimeMcFly 3y ago
> We speak in terms of 1-12 hours but we know to parse 17:00 as 5PM in the spot. This is how it is for me as well, once you learn 24h time it's about as simple as can be, and I learned when I was a kid. I don't think I've ever lived anywhere where 24h time was the norm for writing/displaying though - or maybe I just didn't notice because I'm fine with it.