Like those apocryphal Eskimos with their endless names for snow, Frank Jacobs reports that the famously punctual Germans have four different ways to tell time:
In a large part of north-western Germany, from the Danish to the French border, the preferred option is viertel nach zehn (‘quarter after ten’)….In what used to be East Germany, the same clock time is referenced as viertel elf (‘quarter eleven’)….An option limited to German-speaking Switzerland is to call this particular time viertel ab zehn (‘quarter from ten’)….Another national Option is viertel über zehn (‘quarter over ten’), used only in central parts of Austria.
Wait a second. Shouldn’t there be five ways to say this? What about the German version of “ten fifteen”? Doesn’t anyone use that? After all, what do they do when it’s 10:12 and there’s no handy “quarter” or “half” shortcut to use?
