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'5 and 20 to'

Posted by James Briggs on July 15, 2005

In Reply to: '5 and 20 to' posted by Rivets on July 15, 2005

: '5 and 20 to'
: Tell me people. Why do our older generation when giving the time for 14:35 often say its '5 and 20 too'
: My grandmother often used that phrase.

That's the way it was, and still is in Germany. It's later generations that have changed to '25 to' and dropped the '5 and xx' format from other situations.
By the way, beware if you're ever in Germany. 'Half ten' is NOT half past ten, but half past nine - it's regarded as 'half way to ten' and not 'half way past'.

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