Glizdka
Key Member
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2019
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Polish
- Home Country
- Poland
- Current Location
- Poland
I'm trying to figure out how familiar native speakers of English are with the 12-hour clock. So far, my observations have been mixed.
I've noticed that the 12-hour clock is very common in the US, so much so that I've even seen digital clocks display time in the 12-hour format, with AM and PM. Last time I visited America, the receptionist was baffled when I asked for a late check out because my transfer was picking me up at fifteen, and I had to rephrase it and say "...I mean 3 PM". That one time my American friend saw my phone display time in the 24-hour format, he called it "military time" and said this format is only ever used in the military or by doctors, so I suspect Americans are much more familiar with the 12-hour clock and barely familiar with the 24-hour clock.
At the same time, my Australian friend has absolutely no problem with the 24-hour clock and quite naturally says things like "I finish work at seventeen thirty". Englishmen I've talked to seem to use the 12-hour clock most of the time, but are familiar with the 24-hour clock decently enoguh for me not to have to convert time from the 24-hour format to the 12-hour format in order to be understood. I haven't been to the UK often enough to take my personal experience as anything representative or reliable, though, so I can't be sure if it means anything.
Here in Poland, people mostly use the 24-hour clock and every single digital clock I've seen throughout my life displays it in the 24-hour format, but people are very familiar with the 12-hour clock, which is commonly used in speech and informally. However, it's common for Polish people to mistake 12 PM to mean midnight and 12 AM to mean noon because they aren't familiar enough with the 12-hour clock.
Pretty much every English textbook used in Polish schools I've seen (such as New Enterprise published by Express Publishing) almost universally teaches students to always use the 12-hour clock in the English-speaking world. At the same time, these textbooks are often written only by Poles themselves, unfamiliar enough with the 12-hour clock to make the same "12 AM = noon / 12 PM = midnight" mistake in them, in errenous sentences such as "I have lunch at 12 AM" or "I usually go to bed at 12 PM", which makes me question the information in them.
I think it may vary from person to person and it's probably also region-dependent, so I'd like to ask you: What's the most common time format where you live and how familiar are people with the 12-/24-hour format there?
I've noticed that the 12-hour clock is very common in the US, so much so that I've even seen digital clocks display time in the 12-hour format, with AM and PM. Last time I visited America, the receptionist was baffled when I asked for a late check out because my transfer was picking me up at fifteen, and I had to rephrase it and say "...I mean 3 PM". That one time my American friend saw my phone display time in the 24-hour format, he called it "military time" and said this format is only ever used in the military or by doctors, so I suspect Americans are much more familiar with the 12-hour clock and barely familiar with the 24-hour clock.
At the same time, my Australian friend has absolutely no problem with the 24-hour clock and quite naturally says things like "I finish work at seventeen thirty". Englishmen I've talked to seem to use the 12-hour clock most of the time, but are familiar with the 24-hour clock decently enoguh for me not to have to convert time from the 24-hour format to the 12-hour format in order to be understood. I haven't been to the UK often enough to take my personal experience as anything representative or reliable, though, so I can't be sure if it means anything.
Here in Poland, people mostly use the 24-hour clock and every single digital clock I've seen throughout my life displays it in the 24-hour format, but people are very familiar with the 12-hour clock, which is commonly used in speech and informally. However, it's common for Polish people to mistake 12 PM to mean midnight and 12 AM to mean noon because they aren't familiar enough with the 12-hour clock.
Pretty much every English textbook used in Polish schools I've seen (such as New Enterprise published by Express Publishing) almost universally teaches students to always use the 12-hour clock in the English-speaking world. At the same time, these textbooks are often written only by Poles themselves, unfamiliar enough with the 12-hour clock to make the same "12 AM = noon / 12 PM = midnight" mistake in them, in errenous sentences such as "I have lunch at 12 AM" or "I usually go to bed at 12 PM", which makes me question the information in them.
I think it may vary from person to person and it's probably also region-dependent, so I'd like to ask you: What's the most common time format where you live and how familiar are people with the 12-/24-hour format there?
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