Date:  Tue, 30 Nov 1993 14:27:02 -0230

From:  "Philip Hiscock,

     MUN Folklore & Language Archive" <philiph[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]KEAN.UCS.MUN.CA>

Subject: Re: Half Past the Hour



I grew up in St John's, Newfoundland where I always said "ha' past"

(no [f] in normal speech). We had a teasing rhyme for people who

were annoyingly asking for the time:

    Ha' past, kiss me ass,

    Quarter to me hole.

By the way, even now - in my forties - I have no idea what

people mean when they say "It's quarter of four" - does that

mean quarter _to_ or quarter _after_ the hour?

And are those "quarter" times associated with the half times - that is,

do such people as Natalie, to whom "half past" is foreign, find the

"quarter of/to/after" times foreign, too?

            -Philip Hiscock

philiph[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]kean.ucs.mun.ca