This fun game just made me realize that actually using analog watch does not require converting the time to HH:MM.

I've been using analog watch for years, my Apple Watch face is set to analog and, apparently, I read the time as "it's almost 11", but never as "it's 10:58".

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trescenzi 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yep this is why I prefer analog watches. They are much faster to internalize the time but slower to convert to numbers. Because it’s an abstraction I innately know as someone who learned to read them as a child they are very familiar and easy to read. You really only need the actual numbers when someone asks you for the time.

	▲	ajdude 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Technology Connections did a really great video on this a few years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeopkvAP-ag Apparently being raised with analog clocks vs digital changes how one intuits the passage of time.
	▲	al_borland 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The classic example of this is when someone sees you check your watch, then they ask the time, and you have to check the watch again to see what time it actually is. A comment is almost always made about how the watch was just checked.

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exitb 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yes, if you use an analog indicator for an analog parameter, you can skip a „parse” step. Similarly, airplanes use analog indicators, or digital ones that either mimic their analog counterparts, or in some way incorporate visual aids that go past a number. This allows the pilot to, at a glance, check the values, see the rate of change, get a useful readout even if the value is noisy or oscillating.

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clickety_clack 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I got a mechanical watch with a 24-hour dial, and I see it as “mid-morning”, “late afternoon” etc.

It does annoy me that it’s harder to find 24-hr dials with noon at the top and midnight at the bottom. They all put midnight at the top for some reason.

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mikestew 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The same “kids across the street” I reference in another comment needed translation from “quarter to eleven” when they’d ask the time. Makes sense given they couldn’t read an analog face at the time.

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aidenn0 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

My 18 year old daughter is the same (and also can't read an analog clock). Despite me using "quarter to," "quarter past," and "half past" regularly throughout her life. And we having analog clocks in most communal spaces in our house. And we drilled her on analog clocks for two summers in a row...

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jammaloo 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Similarly, when I moved from the UK to Canada, people often didn't understand what I meant when I said it was "half ten", which is the common way of saying ten thirty, at least where I grew up.

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robotresearcher an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Some Americans say ‘a quarter of X’ and even after 30 years I can’t remember if that’s before or after hour X.

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gumby 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I’m a “quarter past” person but I’ve always been confused by “half ten” (which thankfully isn’t used in Australia). But in German, “half ten” means 9:30, which is make more sense to me (probably because I’m used to how German speech often drops words, which is less common in English)

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NopIdoN 4 hours ago | parent [-]

For "half ten" we're just dropping a word from "half past ten".

How does one get to "half ten" in German? Is it simply starting from "half to ten"?

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Someone 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Halfway to ten.

	▲	Evidlo 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		05:00

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mjlee 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Next, go to Germany or the Netherlands where half ten means 9:30.

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SanjayMehta 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I never heard that when I lived in the UK in the 70s, but only in Ireland in the late 90s.

	▲	huflungdung 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[dead]

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a570xyz 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Half ten? So.. 5. Got it.

	▲	ezekg 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I was thinking 10:30.

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smusamashah 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Same, I find it easier to see time on analogue. When I see 3:30 for example, in my head I see hands of a watch (in-fact, a very particular watch I grew up seeing in the shade in courtyard). I visualize not just the watch but the lighting at that time of day as well. Gives me perfect sense of how late or early in the day that time means.

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woodrowbarlow 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

yeah, i've been using cheap mechanical analog watches and wouldn't trust it to be accurate to-the-minute by the end of the day anyway. i kind of enjoy knowing only the approximate time.

	▲	trevithick 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Long ago I used KDE's "fuzzy clock." the fuzziness was adjustable to as high as "middle of the week," which is funny but not very practical. At a higher resolution it was fun for a while.

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SanjayMehta 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's because one doesn't usually look at their watch to find out what the time is: most of the time (pun unintended) we want to how much time is left for an activity, or for an activity to start.

As in, how many more minutes before my flight takes off, or how much time left for this exam?