[Grammar] Time reporting on radio

[jabrwock]

Listening to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news on the radio, they report time as "four minutes past four thirty". Is this a radio convention? Wouldn't they say "four thirty four"?

 

[J&K Tutoring]

There can be many ways to report the time:

1. four thirty four
2. thirty four minutes past the hour of four o'clock
3. twenty six minutes before the hour of five o'clock

The example given is unusual, but quite clear and acceptable. I suppose radio announcers get tired of saying the same thing always in the same way, so maybe they like to break things up a bit. Also, they get really good at filling in very specific blocks of time and stretching things as needed to coordinate with incoming feeds. Radio especially hates "dead air".

 

[jabrwock]

There can be many ways to report the time:
...
The example given is unusual, but quite clear and acceptable. I suppose radio announcers get tired of saying the same thing always in the same way, so maybe they like to break things up a bit. Also, they get really good at filling in very specific blocks of time and stretching things as needed to coordinate with incoming feeds. Radio especially hates "dead air".

On CBC it seems to be quite common. CBC Saskatchewan and CBC Manitoba both seem to have announcers who report the time like that quite frequently. Since CBC seems to model itself on the BBC I wondered if it was some kind of UK tradition dating back from the early days of radio.

I've read somewhere that it was useful at one point for setting your clock when read in that format, but can't find any confirmation.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard any British TV or radio announcers say "four minutes past four-thirty". It's really odd.

 

[jutfrank]

four minutes past four, yes. But four minutes past four thirty strikes me as silly. It's unclear, unelegant and unnecessarily wordy. I can't imagine why they would deliberately do that. Maybe, as was said above, simply to fill time.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

When I worked in radio here in the US, the station required its on-air people to announce the time at exactly the hour. It sounds like in Canada, exact half-hours are expected to be announced, as well. So saying four minutes past four-thirty might be their way of being fastidious, acknowledging it when a time mark is missed.

I kind of like it!

 

[GoesStation]

four minutes past four, yes. But four minutes past four thirty strikes me as silly. It's unclear, unelegant and unnecessarily wordy. I can't imagine why they would deliberately do that.

In Catalan, that time is said two quarters of five and four.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

In Catalan, that time is said two quarters of five and four.

Now that's silly!

 

[GoesStation]

For 4.34? Are you sure?

Yes. It's the oddest system imaginable. I have a feeling younger Catalans have largely forgone it in favor of reciting the digits displayed on digital clocks, but their forebears used this system for generations. You can read about it here.