American Reacts to How Brits Use Numbers Differently

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As an American I don't know how numbers are used differently in Britain compared to here in America, but today I am excited to find out. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!

[@alankingvideo]

I think most British people know far more about America than Americans know about the rest of the world.

[@billybudd5854]

I suspect that a lot of Brits know more about America than a lot of Americans know about America.

[@Dranok1]

Hey, I used to mock them for that also, until I learned that not only do a substantial number of them speak at least 2 languages (due to the size of the Spanish/Hispanic community and other immigrants -- how many languages do you speak with France and Germany on your doorstep), but with 330 million of them to our 70 they have many more internal cultures and borders and divisions than most of us realize, and Texas alone covers an area over 2 thirds the size of Europe, so it's far less surprising when they haven't left their own shores, or even their own State! Edit: I discover I foolishly trusted a KZbin video for this comparison! 🤭 Now I've had my hand slapped, I went to the atlas to find that the USA actually compares with Europe, so my point stands although nowhere near to that extreme...

[@Rw_depaling739]

@@Dranok1Texas covers about 700.000 km2, Europe covers 10.500.000 km2. Do some research before you comment

[@philip013]

America is 'Rome'

[@chriss2452]

​@@Dranok1 ​Texas is the size of 2/3 of Europe? Not quite.

[@victoriawilliams8196]

Calling 24-hour-clock 'military time' drives me bonkers.

[@marydavis5234]

It is used by all countries Military,

[@davemason2604]

I totally agree

[@bulwinkle]

​@@marydavis5234But not exclusively by the military. The airline industry uses the 24 hour clock and GMT wherever in the world they happen to be.

[@debbee0867]

Yeah, if it was military time (Zulu), the world would all be on the same time as it uses Greenwich Meantime 😂

[@geordiewishart1683]

I remember one time going on an army reserve summer camp and our OC decided it would be a good idea to use Zulu time instead of British Summer Time. Cue mass confusion as not everyone got the memo, including scoff house staff. We just used it then as can excuse to be an hour late for everything, even though the confusion should have made us an hour early. Good times

[@petebeatminister]

Its not only Britain who does things differently to the US, its the rest of the world. :)

[@tenniskinsella7768]

Correct weird america

[@fuglbird]

Only USA uses numbers differently. USA is weird.

[@shondastacy]

True. I live in south America and I approve

[@LiaLunaMiyano]

And imperfect metric​ that fail all specific calculous,and make math more complicated,and not the celsius etc so people who work for NASA have to work double for change that so other americans can understand what already understand the entire rest of the world.@@fuglbird

[@dazlebluefrogify]

Yep all us european use same as brits,weird americans i see people saying when they will select a criminal as next president what do you expect the mentality is strange to say the least

[@SteveBerg-dq1ks]

NOBODY in UK calls it “military time” or says “13 o’clock” It’s just 24 hrs. We all say 7pm even it’s written 19:00. FFS

[@ajayempee]

I think he's using American English in that sentence. I think Americans refer to the 24 hour clock as military time.

[@petervan1353]

'military time' is not just a British thing, The whole of Europe uses it

[@graveperil2169]

'military time' is not a British thing at all, its Just the 24hr clock

[@evelynproulx1853]

As well as Québec, Canada.

[@kasumimori1798]

There are only 12 countries in the world that use the AM/PM system: USA, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, UK, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand

[@evelynproulx1853]

​@@kasumimori1798 part of Canada. Québec, Canada uses the 24hour cocktail.

[@ThePhenomenalOne371]

Not just Europe, the rest of the world

[@No1sonuk]

The "4th of July" is the ultimate irony. The US celbration of independence from the UK is pretty much the only time they use the British date format.

[@MikeGreenwood51]

We may say July 4th on our Good Riddence Defector Celebrations Day.

[@stonkr]

MM/DD/YYYY was the British format. We Brits changed to match the rest of the world whilst the US kept it.

[@Lazmanarus]

@@MikeGreenwood51 The day we got rid of a troublesome colony & were wily enough to convince them they had won.

[@MDM1992]

Hey! Cut them some slack! The rest of the year they need a reminder of what month it is, before they get to what day.. 😂

[@irreverend_]

What I have noticed, and thoroughly dislike, is lately media and news reports have started writing/saying dates "July 4th" instead of "4th of July". I'm not sure when it started, but it's become prevalent enough to constantly annoy me now

[@Kipperbob]

When you get used to looking at the 24 hour clock you automatically know the translation into the Pm hour without even thinking about it.

[@jimmypockrus7725]

But why should you have to translate the time for every afternoon time of the day. Either say 15:30 or get a clock that says 3:30.

[@silasfatchett7380]

@@jimmypockrus7725 Both 15:30 and 3:30 are half past three (or halb vier in German).

[@davidnash4393]

@@jimmypockrus7725 because of history & culture. The 24 hr format is unambiguous when you need to be and simpler that saying "in the afternoon" or PM etc but in casual conversation you don't need to bother unless you are talking about a train or a flight etc. And analogue clocks are 12 hr. And most people, at least in the UK, were taught 12 hr clock when they were first taught to tell the time as a small child so it's more internalised.

[@SusanneSpence]

@@davidnash4393 so if you say 12 o’clock you have to say if it’s day time or nighttime. Whereas if you say 12 hundred hours you automatically know it is noon. 😊

[@davidnash4393]

@@SusanneSpence 12.00 or midday or noon. 00.00 (zero-zero) or midnight. 🙂 I would say it's very common to say midnight to distinguish from midday. Also people can get confused that 12.00 midnight is AM while 12.00 midday is PM. Anyway as I said we mostly use 12 hr for conversation except when referring to trains or planes, or in a more formal or precise context. The main point is that in Europe including the UK we are familiar and comfortable with the 24 hr format and convert it automatically in our heads.

[@alexsparda1708]

I found it funny that they call it military time as if civilians can't count past 12

[@13guns87]

You wanna look at the American version of English then. They had to rename things cos it was thought the American public were not smart enough to understand them.

[@IanFay-d1v]

Since the USA is always at war then I suppose it is military time.

[@DoctorVision]

It's the same when I hear Americans saying, "It's 100 degrees outside" and I'm sitting there thinking, "How are you still alive?!" before I remember they still use Fahrenheit whereas the majority of the world has moved to using Celsius.

[@TestGearJunkie.]

It'sa generational thing in the UK I think. I was brought up in the 1960s using Fahrenheit and I still use it to this day. I can't get my head around Celsius (or Centigrade as we called it back then) and it annoys the hell out of me when I see weather forecasts and all I get is temperatures in °C 😡

[@johnhodgetts6617]

​@@TestGearJunkie. I was brought up after decimalisation in the UK so was only taught Centigrade (Celsius) and the metric system in school, but it's funny how when it's a hot day, some people will use Fahrenheit and say "It's 100 degrees in the shade", but on a cold day they'll use Celsius: "It's minus 3!"

[@tinatee5577]

​@TestGearJunkie. I was born in 1948 and I only use Celsius and so does everyone I know. It's definitely not an age thing

[@TestGearJunkie.]

@@tinatee5577 Don't know then, I only know that I've always only ever used Fahrenheit, and as I said it's frustrating when all we get on the weather forecasts is ℃ 😥

[@adriankolsters]

@@TestGearJunkie. But it's a lot more logical: water boils at 100 degrees C, and freezes at 0 degrees C....

[@bsmith3506]

Saying "I can't name a single British address" while he has the video paused on Downing St is definitely an iconic Tyler moment

[@shiobhan8648]

😂 I did notice that, but I’m guessing Americans would not have a memory of it, like having the Whitehouse picture behind him

[@kjellmesch8060]

Why would anyone outside UK have to recognise 10 Downing St? Seems you inflate the importance of that adress quite a bit

[@bsmith3506]

@@kjellmesch8060 any random person perhaps not, but consider the context. In this instance we're talking about a guy who has spent hundreds, thousands of hours reacting to stuff about Britain. So it is something you would expect him to know.

[@davepx1]

@@kjellmesch8060 I've seen European media use a picture of the door as backdrop for related British political news pieces: it is recognised outside the UK, whereas most Brits probably wouldn't know a single official residence on the Continent except maybe the Kremlin.

[@BrettSurenne]

He probably thinks Great Britain is a part of America.

[@jtmusson]

The post code is so specific that it’s possible to address a letter with just the house number and the post code, and it will still arrive!

[@simonruszczak5563]

Yes but there are exceptions.

[@mattchriss645]

​@@simonruszczak5563exceptions? Some addresses may have a house name instead Of a number but they are a few and not many.😮

[@jacklovejoy5290]

@@mattchriss645 Some post codes might include two roads if those roads are small

[@HDRW]

Indeed - my postcode is shared by 13 houses (so much more accurate than "the street")

[@derekheeps1244]

In most cases, yes

[@lovespringgreen]

America is the only country that uses "military time" to describe what to the rest of the world is just "normal time"

[@dallasfrost1996]

12hr clock is considered the 'standard' format here in New Zealand.

[@IgoMuh26]

@@dallasfrost1996 Well, thats typical mostly for english speaking people. In all the rest non-english speaking countries we use 24h.

[@PotsdamSenior]

"Doesn't this make more sense?" America: "That's not for us, then!" 😂

[@gregorygant4242]

American , "If we can't put a meter on it or charge it , NO NOPE ! "

[@TheBananaman491]

America "sense? that's a currency, right?"(yes i know its "cent's" its called wordplay before anyone tries to correct me.)

[@philipmason9537]

90% of the world use the 24 hour clock especially at airports, for buses and trains.

[@etherealbolweevil6268]

Night buses (possibly other transport) sometimes run on 27 or 28 hour 'clocks' in the scheduling, but not on the public timetables.

[@eralor2007]

USA always different to the world

[@fintonmainz7845]

99 percent

[@corringhamdepot4434]

International airline timetables use local times. So using the 24 clock reduces some of the confusion. Where departure and arrival times could be using different local times that are hours apart.

[@Zaju]

Probably more than 90%

[@oioier098hen]

I was thinking this bloke must live under a rock but then I remembered he's "just an average American".

[@oojimmyflip]

They always make me laugh in the USA.

[@linmal2242]

And only now learning about other society's systems which are sensible compared to the crazy USA !

[@OrriTheFox]

I mean let's be fair this is a video of him learning about the differences between the USA and the UK. We all have to learn somewhere and this guy is making an effort - should be encouraged more than anything. Every now and again I'll watch a similar video between say the UK and Germany or the UK and Spain and I'll basically have the same reactions throughout the video as Tyler.

[@georgezee5173]

@@OrriTheFox I don't think I've ever seen one of those videos where someone was ignorant of every single thing they saw. I can't believe this man was aware of at least one or two things. If that's true, then this guy has a complete lack of curiosity.

[@edeledeledel5490]

Sensationally ignorant of anything that exists anywhere other than the US. And a lot of what does exist in the US.

[@MrDafthorse]

Stumbled across this video (I'm a Brit). Really like how he doesn't just say US system is best, he's open to thinking other ways. There's some things better done in the US and some in the UK, and that's great :)

[@lolsaXx]

DD/MM/YYYY is also written that way in most other countries of the world.

[@jjj15s]

All countries write the date in the logical way, with smallest amount of time first, except the USA.

[@zsomborkolek1323]

​@@jjj15suhm, well, in Hungary we use the YYYY/MM/DD format. But it's in a logical order, at least

[@WorldWildcats]

​@zsomborkolek1323 We do same in Korea. Yyyy/mm/dd

[@wolcek]

@@WorldWildcats makes sorting easy, follows ISO date format, naturally extends to time: YYYY.MM.DDTHH.mm.ss date +%FT%T or date +Iseconds

[@HamnaTabuu]

ISO 8601 all the way! If you work in IT you'll know the benefits of logical standards.

[@tbert9739]

Being british i would never say Thirteen o clock I would write 13:00 and refer to it as 'One O Clock in the afternoon'

[@Herzschreiber]

yes. And when making a lunch date, you wouldn't even add "in the afternoon" because the context makes clear that lunch won't take place at "one o'clock in the morning", right?

[@jaqian]

I'm Irish and I'd say 13hundred

[@Santiasm]

My grandad would say five and twenty past / five and twenty to (instead of twenty five past or twenty five to the hour) I say that from time to time as it reminds me of him and the years when people weren't in so much of a hurry to shorten everything. Thirteen o'clock would be a travesty!

[@stephenbucknell4527]

Nobody says 13 o'clock, it's 13 hundred hours.

[@kylesayers277]

I only ever hear managers or officials saying "we'll pick this up in the meeting at fourteen thirty", but even then it's rare.

[@jonathancoad8372]

An American being surprised that the rest of the world isn’t America.

[@iolog513]

I think that this is normal. Many uk citizens are suprised by how things are done outside of Europe. Other big countries around the world don't use the 24 hour clock. E.g. Australia

[@francinelynn334]

@@iolog513 Whether the 24 hour clock is used in Australia depends on where you work. I worked in the medical sector and the 24 hour clock was always used. It wasn’t verbalised as 13 o’clock but 1300 hours.

[@Sclero80]

Even in Italy they use 24 hours! I believe in all of Europe!

[@francocanuck]

@@Sclero80 Yes all Europe

[@chrisjeffery9582]

First, they are surprised that there are countries other than America...

[@chapperscornwall]

The UK area codes for landline were never needed to be dialled if you were within that area. So for instance. In Plymouth the area code was (01752) but to dial a local number you wouldn’t need to dial that, just the subsequent 6 digit number. So it was really easy to memorise local phone numbers

[@Santiasm]

Also, depending on how old you are and where you lived.... the area code started off as 4 numbers then went to 5 - ours started as 0202 then went to 01202. And yes mostly in those days (before we all had the internet haha) you mostly knew people in your area so just remembered the 6 digit number :)

[@Ashleigh123]

In the north east it’s 0191

[@glebealyth]

This is now no longer the case if you have moved to fibre, when you have to remember to use your dialling code for local numbers and to reprogram all the local numbers on your handset to reflect this. Ah!, the march of technology.

[@Roadent1241]

​@@glebealyth Moved to fibre...? We're using the internet to call phones now? I ask as a Brit who's barely used mobiles as intended because signal is basically nonexistent in the countryside, and who relies on landline for internet nevermind using a phone full stop where needed (bank/doctors etc) despite also being HoH. There's no other way to use a phone or internet without landline and yet BT is making us move to mobile signal. Meaning a lot of us are going to be quitting the internet not by choice XD Not like we've been asking for mobile signal extensions and stuff for decades...

[@declanrussell2232]

Can’t name one British address while looking at a picture of 10 Downing Street.

[@leonbanks5728]

SW1A 2AA.

[@thelittletanket689]

Pov you're American

[@DetectiveDeuche]

Tyler isn't the brightest bulb in the box...

[@Sankey84Gaming]

I was thinking the same

[@tonyharpur8383]

😂

[@jonprice3342]

Remember 13:00 (thirteen hundred hours) is simply what UK citizens call 1pm as we automatically translate our military time to standard time without thinking about it.

[@steveforrest1885]

Addresses can have more than 3 digits it’s completely dependant on the size of the road most of which don’t have more than 1000

[@blocoes2757]

callign it military time drives me bonkers, like most others

[@deborahfalconer6047]

We don't generally call it military time! It's the 24 hr clock.

[@davefb]

tbh if it was a time, I'd say "catch the bus just after one, well 13:10". Its weird to write down, because as you say, its just automatic.

[@dizzylizzy7582]

I'd never say 19 o'clock. You'd say 19 hundred hours or 7pm.

[@Lysandra-8]

In germany we say 19 o'clock

[@toforgetisagem8797]

I would say 19 hours.

[@Lysandra-8]

@@toforgetisagem8797 In Germany this would be misunderstood. 19 (out of 24) hours would not be a time, but just a period of time. But it might be different in other countries 🤗

[@donnamuldoon6685]

Unfortunately, the "19 hundred" is where the idea that the 24 hour clock is military time comes from. However, you are correct in saying 19 hundred. 7pm gets confusing because it is 7 hours Post Meridian. The Meridian is the middle of the day so is noon. However when seeing the number 7, many people see it as 17 hundred which is only 5pm.

[@donnamuldoon6685]

The 7 crossed through is not a British idea, it's European in General. As for changing the definition of a billion, there was no law to change it and many younger people in the U.K. know a billion to be a million million.

[@br0wnkrak3n70]

He forgot to mention 1) for time, we say 'quarter to' instead of '15 minutes to...' 2) we say instead of 2 weeks - 'fortnight' (and its spelled differently) which means 'FOuRTeen NIGHTs'

[@davefb]

I'd always have deadlines at fortnights, just to confuse my american producers :D

[@WillzeeWoo]

I will never forget when i was much younger and gaming with an American friend. We got to the end of the night and i said to him "I'll be on about half 10 tomorrow." Then there was a pause and he said "So 5 o'clock?" I laughed so hard. 😆😆❤️❤️

[@joeking7707]

😂yo now thats funny😂

[@StephanLuik1]

Half ten would be 9:30 in my country and many other EU countries. I only recently found out the Brits mean 10.30 by it. Must be the timezone difference.😅

[@lottieallen9458]

​@@StephanLuik1 Half ten would be 10:30 in every time zone if you are both in the same place. If one person is in the UK and the other is somewhere in Europe you would have to adjust for the time zone difference, usually at least 1 or 2 hours ahead, not behind (Europe is ahead of Britain in time).

[@rainerbloedsinn182]

@@lottieallen9458 No, what he means is that "half ten" would be interpreted as the thenth hour being half up, i.e. 09:30, while Brits interpret "halt ten" as half past ten, i.e. 10:30. Where I life we would also say "quarter ten" meaning 09:15 and "three quarter ten" meaning 09:45.

[@TestGearJunkie.]

That makes a weird sort of sense 🤣

[@MeMo-ny5bv]

I worked for an American company that started up here. We had a meeting room on the first floor. The American people never turned up because America doesn't have a ground floor.

[@mbrown2776]

🤣😂🤣👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@deano2506]

😂😂😂

[@BrianSniatkowski]

I'm in the US and it depends on the building. Many have a ground floor, sometimes called lobby level. Others start with a first floor.

[@susyward581]

@@BrianSniatkowskiexactly

[@musicbruv]

Some US buildings call the 13th floor the 14th floor.

[@stever7732]

In Britain we usually do not use 24-hour time (military time) when talking informally with people, but we do almost always use it when writing time.

[@mobbs6426]

Sometimes, we might read it like a year if we're being specific, e.g. "19:38. We've got 7 minutes" Just as likely to say "7:38", but there are a few fun to say times in military speech

[@stuartriddell2461]

I use it almost exclusively, but my dad was in the army so it just stuck.

[@kevingodding9316]

I used it all the time,

[@stevep9898]

Yeah, I've never heard anyone use the 24-hour clock times when speaking

[@RosieLee777]

Timetables use them, buses and trains etc

[@angowT]

We buy our petrol by the litre, but work out the miles per gallon and our road signs are in miles. We know what a centimetre is, but often talk in inches. We weigh ourselves in Stones, but buy meat by the kilo. In conversation we use the 12 hour clock, but in writing switch to 24 hour. Our temperature is in Celsius. When is comes to liquid, we buy pints in a pub, but litres in a shop, mass can be pounds or kilos. We Brits our fantastically eccentric.

[@tonyd3927]

Useing letters with numbers increases the amount of different combinations you can have

[@lynnm.wheaton1559]

Yeah. It’s easy for anyone else but USA citizens seem to work at being confused.

[@geraldharkness8830]

its simply 24h clock it saves confusing am or pm very simple

[@Nevyn515]

Let’s meet at 7 Which 7? There’s two of them, and use phonetic letters for the a or the p because a lot of letters can sound the same over the phone. Oh, sorry, I meant seven papa mike, nineteen hundred.

[@stephenlee5929]

@@Nevyn515 Try it with 12 o'clock. Which one?

[@AlbandAquino]

@@Nevyn515 Most European people will be (hopelessly) waiting for you at 7AM. And be pissed if you didn't show up right on time. 😂

[@annemarie7682]

@@stephenlee592912 a clock is day , 24 a clock is night , 7 a clock is morning 19 a clock is evening , the higher ciffer the later on the day ,

[@stephenlee5929]

@@annemarie7682 First I was responding to @Nevyn515 who suggested the use of AM or PM, which does not work for 12 o'clock,. Second most British people would not say 19 a clock, the term would be o' clock, ( the o' is short for of the clock but that doesn't matter) and is not used with 24 hour clock time, 19:00 would be nineteen hundred, 24:00 or 00:00 would be Midnight rather than twenty-four hundred, but that's an option. To clarify my response to @Nevyn515 On the other system 12 midday, is neither AM or PM as AM means before midday and PM means after middy (in Latin), so both 12 AM & 12 PM are logically midnight

[@andrewedis9907]

1:30 "I can't name a single British address" while looking at freeze frame for 10 Downing Street. Yep he's definitely American 😅

[@enthusiasticallydry]

this guy is so american. and he’s not the “GUNS N BARBECUE!” type, i mean he’s like “duuuuude the british are kinda smart with that maaaaaan. holy cowww” way. no judgment to the guy

[@goaway2803]

As an Aussie, I was laughing at that too XD

[@donnastevens8832]

10 Downing Street is only PART of the address. You would at least need to add the town or city …. But who knows the POSTCODE for 10 Downing Street?

[@andrewedis9907]

@@donnastevens8832 Don't be silly it's obviously in London and I guarantee your letter would still get there without the postcode. 10 Downing Street London is pretty hard to miss

[@SiqueScarface]

Phone switch engineer here. The U.S. has something called a closed numbering plan. The structure of every phone number is fixed and can not be changed: three digit area code and seven digit subscriber number. When it comes to phone numbers, this is quite unique internationally. France is somewhat similar, but France technically does not have area codes at all. Phone numbers have 10 digits, and if you move, you take your 10 digit number with you. The phone numbers used to have only 8 digits, but when this system ran out of numbers, two more digits were added to all numbers. On the other hand, Austria for instance has an open numbering plan. That means that a phone number can be of arbitrary length, as long as it does not exceed 15 digits. Vienna for instance has the area code 1, larger cities have a three digit area code (Graz for instance has 316), and rural areas have a four digit area code. Mobile phone numbers have a separate area code range starting with 6 and always are three digits long - with one important exception: Salzburg has the area code 662, which looks mobile, but isn't. There are other quirks in the Austrian numbering plan, which I won't elaborate here. Many European countries use a leading 0 for "unknown" dialing, that means the public phone system (PSTN) at first does not know what type of call it has to place (local, national, international), but has to determine it first by analyzing the number. Differently in Italy, the leading 0 is actually part of the area code. But some area codes don't have that leading 0. And finally, a common misunderstanding. Phone numbers are not mapped to stations. Technically, it is wrong to say that a station has a certain phone number. Phone numbers instead are routes telling the phone network where to route a call to. How this resolves to a station is for the last phone switch within that route to determine. A station can have several phone numbers routed to it, or none at all.

[@ivar_oslo-hr3mc]

the zero is the long distance access code, that means you are connected outside your local exchange.

[@SiqueScarface]

@@ivar_oslo-hr3mc But as I said: It's only necessary with "unknown" dialling. If your subscriber line for instance is ISDN, you could leave out the 0 and send your phone number as "ISDN national", and it works. In fact, some PSTN providers want it that way, especially with E2/T2 lines, and refuse the connection if you use "Unknown".

[@1234_Flux]

Tyler we don't use military time when talking about time. We read 17:00 and say "it's 5PM".

[@trevorcook4439]

Every English speaking country does. Well up until recently where all kids can’t seem to read the time in any format! 😂 US of course has never wrapped their brains around 24hour clock

[@Transautistic]

in Montreal, we do say its 17pm though it's in french that we do that, in english it's more common to say 5 pm

[@kathryndunn9142]

​@@trevorcook4439yeah kids these days can get 5 * in exams but read the time etc there useless 😂😂

[@paulinebarrett5878]

In Britain we use both ways to tell time, an analog clock and the 24hr clock, our mobile phones have the 24hr clock

[@trevorcook4439]

@@kathryndunn9142 indeed

[@janus1363]

The crossed 7 is actually more European than British. We brits have simply adopted it.

[@azopeopaz3059]

yes in france we use it when wright in hand

[@Saarloos1960]

Oh sure since Britain is not Europe…..but damn , it is Europe, get your geography straight.

[@markylon]

@@azopeopaz3059 Write not wright

[@josiecoote8975]

I never cross sevens. We used to call the crossed ones Continental sevens and only pretentious people in UK used them.

[@martinwebb1681]

I haven't ... 7 is 7, I don't need any daft line through it. I have not seen it used in the UK, only ever see 7.

[@palpytine]

We just call it the 24-hour clock. But we don't actually *say* 19-O'Clock. We'll show 19:00 on digital clocks, and we'll write it as 19:00, but normally we would *say* "7 pm"

[@VincentParbelle]

Same here in France, we convert automatically. If you are British, I have a question, though. Suppose you are in Victoria Station, you can typically hear announcements such as "The 19.22 (nineteen-twenty-two) service to Brighton will depart from platform 10". How would it be announced if it were "The 19.00 service..."?

[@robcrossgrove7927]

@@VincentParbelle It's a long time, (no puns intended), since I used a train, but from memory, because it needs to be consistent with the written timetables, it would be announced in the 24 hour format. So "The train now standing at platform ** is the Nineteen Hundred service to Brighton".

[@Nodster]

When it comes to writing the the time it seems most people will use 24 hour clock in professional capacity but on a personal level it is usually 12 hour like when leaving a note for others at home etc. I also see a lot of books will default to am/pm as well but this might just be for more a global audience. We probably all do the weirdest thing and convert it in our heads no matter which way it is written, book says 19:00 our brains be like yep 7PM, book says 7PM our brains be like yep 19:00

[@rootchiller]

@@VincentParbelle Excellent question, I dont use the trains too much but I think @robcrossgrove7927 answer to be correct.

[@MrWolfheat]

In sweden they would call out 19.00 at the train station as nineteen-zero-zero (nitton-noll-noll), In conversations if its exactly 19.00 or 19.15 we would say seven or quarter past seven, but to be more precise we would instead say nineteen-fourteen for 19:14 as for all other uneven numbers. we can say soon a quarter past seven, or roughly a quarter past seven.

[@dylx09]

The lack of sense annoys me. It seems the english know more about americans than the americans know about the english

[@sydneycopsey1190]

I think thats because the American education has a lot to be desired as they are very centered people. we take a globakl attitude to learning they are only interested in a me education. but even now they are trying to eradicate their own history by banning books and courses that contain diversity. which is a ashame considering one of their best film characters has the teaching of IDIC (Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations)

[@hankchocolate8247]

I swear Americans have their mind rocked when they realise the rest of the world have their own thing going on

[@-slasht]

I swear a few Americans have figured out that pretending to be amazed or confused at local oddities of certain developed countries is YT gold because it generates engagement like nothing else: half of the comments mock the 'dumb American' the other half explaining to them any of the pretend misunderstandings. This one got a comment for every 30 views, not bad at all.

[@davidnash4393]

I can't believe he didn't know all those differences.

[@paulmilner8452]

@@-slasht that's because he is a steretype American playing a role..... the only dumb ones are the ones not understanding

[@leonardreeves1747]

I'm English and have never heard anyone say 13 O'clock. This form is known as the 24 hour clock. It is true to say most people would read it as 13:00 but just say one O'clock. In the military however, they would probably say, 13 hundred hours. You should check out how Norwegians tell the time. That would really confuse you!😊

[@kajwicksell4455]

try danish and you'll freak out..

[@flootzavut30daychallenge]

Yes! Like there's a reason the opening line of 1984 *It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.* is discomfiting. Clocks don't usually strike 13. No one says 13 o'clock. It immediately tells us Something Is Different.

[@MadsenWikholm]

Yes, but that's because the Danish don't understand Danish anymore either. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qV7QgKxui7p4eM0 😂

[@ivar_oslo-hr3mc]

@@kajwicksell4455 10:55 : ti og fem og halvtreds.

[@ivar_oslo-hr3mc]

Im Norwegian. What is spesial with our time?

[@MissScruffadore]

Americans be like, "I cant count past 12"

[@brigidsingleton1596]

"Americans be like" is _American-speak_ As in English it should say: Americans say "I can count past twelve" (12).

[@etherealbolweevil6268]

After 12 they have to take shoes and socks off.

[@adenwellsmith6908]

13 in Alabama.

[@GSD-hd1yh]

More like "I can't count past 10 as that's the maximum number of digits unless I take my socks off".

[@nedludd7622]

They also can't write.

[@gotham61]

I live at number 15 on a U.S. street. British people don’t use the word “grade” to describe school years at all. They say “Year 10” which is equivalent to 9th Grade in the U.S.

[@leecollison7527]

One fun fact that a lot of people will have forgetten. When calling a landline to another landline in the same area code, you don't need to dial the area code.

[@markylon]

Except everyone uses mobiles now so this doesn't apply

[@Windgonner]

Only in the US.

[@martinwebb1681]

In the past yes that was true, but now since BT has gone digital the area code for local numbers has to be used. They have done away with just dialling the local part of the number now the whole number has to be entered.

[@josiecoote8975]

​@markylon I've still got a landline and a mobile.

[@MazzaEliLi7406]

UK one time land line user (standing charge out priced itself) who remembers that the area code was unnecessary when dialling a local number

[@araptorofnote5938]

My train is announced as "leaving at seventeen-twenty". My brain hears "twenty past five".

[@scottirvine121]

Exactly, piece a piss

[@fermitupoupon1754]

My brain hears "ten before half six".

[@paulkroon4931]

​@fermitupoupon1754 haha, Dutchy?

[@mickenoss]

Five and Twenty to is also a thing over here, as is Five and Twenty past.

[@AndreiTupolev]

My brain usually adds "is delayed due to...."

[@DavidFrankland]

I've noticed from watching KZbin that we pronounce negative numbers differently. For example, for -7, an American would say "negative seven", whereas we would say "minus seven" in the UK.

[@LexAngel]

I'm. In the UK and my kids are taught negative instead of minus.

[@lynnm.wheaton1559]

Canada also would use minus not negative.

[@julieblaine5352]

Australian here, we use negative.

[@Tykewarrior]

@@LexAngel Well stop it!

[@Tykewarrior]

@@lynnm.wheaton1559 👁️ ❤️ 🇨🇦

[@biadhoce]

One thing to note for you Tyler, with British time telling. I walk into a room and I ask for the time, my mate pulls out his phone and it says 21:39. He responds to me with "eh, in a minute it's gonna be 20 to 10". We read and write 24 hour/military time but we don't pronounce it. As a kid you would have to do a little calculation in your head to know the time but from growing up with it, we can glance at any number and instantly know what time it is. 15 is 3, because we finish school at 3. Usually had dinner at 5, which is 17. Using it in different situations, you just get used to it.

[@ianroper2812]

It’s not military time, it’s purely 24 hr clock. Military would use 24:00 Zulu.

[@azynkron]

Zulu? Hahaha. No. Leave Africa out of it.

[@Daeananaias]

No such thing as 2400 Zulu time. They would use 23:59:59 or 00:00:01

[@robertsandiford6223]

@@Daeananaias What a weird comment.

[@malcolmhouston7932]

Digital clocks, Mobile 'phones and computers can be set to either 12 or 24 hours whatever your preference. We do not refer to it as Military Time.

[@butatrifle]

00:00:00 Z

[@CatzHoek]

I just randomly browsed into suburban Denver and found a street with 8 houses, 4 on each sides. They had 4 digit house numbers. That's insane.

[@beastoned8596]

Maybe that’s how many could fit on that street? 🤔

[@readMEinkbooks]

It's probably plot numbers as opposed to house numbers? In South Africa your plot has a number but so does your house and 99% of the time, it's the house number that is displayed and used as your address.

[@InaMacallan]

It goes back to the original land plot numbers. So two digits for horizontal, and two for vertical. Also why successive houses don't necessarily have successive numbers.

[@BrianSniatkowski]

In some cities the first 2 digits are the block number.

[@elgoruk6923]

@@InaMacallan That must be a nightmare if you are trying to find a particular house, but you don't have a satnav.

[@georgezee5173]

Spaniard here. What actually blew my mind from this video was to discover that Americans are not taught at all to write the number 7 with the small centered horizontal line. I thought it was a universal thing and that not doing it was just an stylistic choice, like writing the number 4 with the top "open" (so not a triangle anymore, but an open rectangle), or the letter Z not having the centered horizontal line, or instead of doing a double vertical line in the dollar sign ($), justa single line. I can't believe that an American would be that unfamiliar with that in the case of the number 7 LOL

[@droneworld2312]

Small to big

[@SorcererLord]

Loads of people in the UK don't put a line through the 7 lol.

[@claudiakarl7888]

And in Germany the top of 4 is always open

[@gailltidetymothy2528]

​@@claudiakarl7888It's normal if it's hand writing , in France we are told to do that too

[@RuBella21]

In uk putting a line through 7 was only a way to be different at school. Sometimes it became a habit but most I think, ie me, go back to no line through. It was same for i at school, to be different we would put a tiny circle at top instead of dot. I also grew out of that. 4, I never stick to one or other ( open top or not). It’s just how I feel that day! I have been known to put both down on same page. It’s not something I think about when doing 😝

[@SoulSeeker217]

It’s not military time it’s the 24 hour clock! We do use AM and PM… we say seven o clock not nineteen o clock… it’s what you see that verifies AM or PM

[@SimplyElectronicsOfficial]

With the time in Britain, we don't say 13o'clock. we would say 1'oclock. It's purely just how the time is displayed is different. 19:00 we just know is 7pm and would say 7o'clock. It's slightly different for the hours after midnight, at 0200 we would refer to it as 2AM, not o'clock, to emphasise that it's early morning hours. I would also add that the younger generation tend not to use o'clock, half past, quarter past at all and usually just say 9:30 or 9:45.

[@dasmoools606]

Thanks to the RM's I'm overly used to just saying saaay its nineteen-hundred or o-nine-hundred, bleh.. confuses people a lot.

[@spanishpeaches2930]

Dunno..I say 13:20 or 18:35 eg

[@georgezee5173]

In Spain we do the same as in Britain. The time is displayed in a 24-hour way, but it's read and said from 1 to 12 regardless of being PM time. The only time you'll hear the 13-23 hours being explicitly referenced is when, for example, there's some police report explaining with great detail at what time every action took place, where they'll say "a las 14 horas y 12 minutos" ("at 14 hours and 12 minutes") instead of "a las 2 y 12 de tarde" (literally, "at 2 and 12 in the afternoon").

[@20jak69]

@@georgezee5173it’s just Americans who are special

[@stephenwalker6823]

but we might well say "thirteen-fifteen".

[@lordswindon104]

58-year-old Brit here, we never had all this "year 10" business when I was a kid. We said 1st/2nd.. year of Junior/Primary School, 1st/2nd.. year of Senior/Secondary School and so on instead of numbering the whole school career continuously

[@andrewvalentine6977]

I'm 45 and in secondary school I started as year 1 and the next year I went to year 8.

[@patrickwatkiss7872]

​@@andrewvalentine6977Exactly the same as me, 1st Year, then 2nd year changed to Year 8 as I went up? But I'm 47, so they can't have phased it in everywhere simultaneously.🤔

[@crazydiamond6512]

I'm 55, I had reception, yr1 &2 (infant school) Moved to primary school years 1,2,3 & 4 then comprehensive school years 1,2,3,4,5 and 6th form. Onto college after that

[@londonweekend]

You missed out Infants School, for me it was Infants, Junior's, Senior's.

[@janglyj8627]

True story.I am totally confused by this whole year nine business. I started in infants school, left to go to primary school, then started the numbers again 1-5 of secondary school. You could leave at the end of the fifth year but could go on to sixth form (which was mostly Grammar School kids) then we went either to the Tech College, Secretarial College or University.

[@mpark6142]

In Finland we use the 24- hr -clock. It is informal/ casual if you´d just say 6 o´clock and then you´d sometimes would have to say "in the evening", "in the morning " , to make it clear. With school, work, doctor´s appointments etc it is always the 24 hr clock. Even with friends and family, when you want to be clear, we say "the movie starts at 21.15" , "let´s meet 17.30" but you could also casually say " quarter past 9" . If we say "half six", it means 5.30 or 17.30.

[@michellerhodes5720]

We say exactly the same in the UK, also if the time is 1.45 we say quater to 2

[@Ramtamtama]

So, like in Germany, your half n means half to n?

[@durabelle]

​@@RamtamtamaYep, half is always half to in Finnish. I grew up with that and now live in the UK, and still need to make sure to get it right. At school on English classes we were taught to say 'half past five' etc. and only after moving here I learnt that everyone just drops the 'past' and only says 'half five'.

[@LastEuropaKiss]

@@durabelle What makes me laugh in the UK is we will say its "Half 5" and pronounce it "Harf 5" but also say "Half past 5" and pronounce it "Haff past".

[@floseatyard8063]

​@durabelle basically everywhere else its the opposite, half 5 just means 17:30

[@kittyluca7789]

I've been watching your channel for a while now and I know your introduction but today I heard "hi I'm just your French American" and I thought how fancy 😂😂😂😂 my bad. I'm from the UK and I love your videos so much. Some of the things you have covered have been new to me too

[@Astucious]

I have never seen anyone be 'amazed' so many times in 28 minutes. Amazing!

[@chuck1804]

That is literally the whole channel. It's quite entertaining.

[@aidencox790]

@@chuck1804 It's possibly amazing too - but to whom I wonder? That damned Englishman - lived in a bubble in Southern England years ago, knows bugger all about the UK in detail, and has lived in the States for donkey's years which means his UK info is wildly out of date anyway.

[@Anatomymisgivings]

Huh that’s interesting! 😂

[@MrBaronCabron]

he's definitely grating sometimes, he's good in small bursts but it can get tiresome qucikly. just one of his quirks i guess, he seems like a good lad.

[@michellealexander784]

You can address an envelope with the house number and postcode and the post office knows exactly where to deliver it to.

[@johnwarr7552]

When he worked there I was able to send mail to #2 son addressed to: Name Buckingham Palace. It always got there. 🙂

[@marktyler3381]

I've done it, it's true

[@marktyler3381]

Neil Oliver often gets mail addressed Neil Oliver, somewhere in Scotland.

[@heatherhoward2513]

​@@johnwarr7552I should hope so, it's a bit big to ignore.

[@jaba9960]

I love British post codes. They can go as low in detail as possible. Even, different departments within organisation, for example DVLA: Address: DVLA Swansea Postcode Service SA99 1AH Enforcements related SA99 1AR V890 and V11 SA99 1BA V5C Changes SA99 1BD Disposals into Trade (V5/3) SA99 1BE First Registrations (V55/1,2,4,5) SA99 1BN Replacement driving licences SA99 1BP Vehicle and driver record enquiries SA99 1DH Driving Licence Renewal SA99 1DP Personalised Registrations (Motor Trade) SA99 1DS Personalised Registrations (Public) SA99 1DZ Trade licensing and general licensing It's quite funky to imagine two rooms next to each other having different post codes. :)

[@daedalron]

12:06 Day / Month / Year is not a british thing. It is one of the most used method of writing the day in the entire world. The second most used format is Year / Month / Day (which is, by the way, by far the best writing system for dates on a digital format, to easily sort them chronologically). Month / Day / Year is used almost only by USA, Canada, and 2 or 3 african countries. As for 24h clocks. It is NOT military time. Military time is based on GMT Time. 24h clocks are based in your own meridian time. For example in France, we're at GMT+2. So when it is 15:00 in France, it would be 13:00 in military time.

[@CJLloyd]

Large parts of Asia use the US date format too. It's actually something that tripped me up a lot as a Brit living here.

[@Mistmantle88]

Dates go from largest to smallest, or smallest to largest.🇨🇦

[@docugraf]

no, france has GMT+1 time except in summertime wenn daylight saving time expends to GMT+2. And Military uses Zulu, which is GMT without any daylight saving options

[@nialli2000]

I love the "This is how you do dates in Britain" when it's "This is how you do dates in the rest of the world" 😂

[@atempuser]

As a Brit I’ve always crossed my 7’s. When I did this in the US the person reading it couldn’t understand the number. They thought it was a 4 for some reason.

[@dammagee72]

The crossed 7 comes from French , In Scotland its usually a tell tale sign of Catholic schooling

[@Anatomymisgivings]

I also cross my sevens but I wasn’t taught this, I simply learned it was an option and adopted it because I hated that there wasn’t enough difference between a 1 and a 7. I’ve noticed the crossed 7 is used universally by Eastern Europeans. I don’t see it commonly when Brits write though?

[@tonycrayford3893]

​@@AnatomymisgivingsI've always crossed my 7 and for the same reason as you.

[@karendowse8721]

@@dammagee72I had a catholic education in London and was also taught to cross my 7s

[@footscorn]

I had a strict Catholic education in Liverpool and crossing a 7 was completely unheard of.

[@tbrevink8319]

In the Netherlands if you have an appointment at 'half nine' you are expected to be there at 8.30 (or 20.30)

[@Querientje]

Dat is half negen letterlijk vertaald in engeland is dat half past eight

[@davepx1]

Ah yes, that's the German system too.

[@WolfStarbuck]

Same with Norway. 9.30 would be "half 10"

[@sailor67duilio27]

Same I germany and I think I Russia too

[@100Mickl]

20.30 is 8 30 in the evening

[@catherinewilkins2760]

12/24 hours are interchangeable. What's the problem. I would read 13.00 hours as one o'clock, would say 1 o'clock.

[@tihomirrasperic]

when they say, see you at 7 o'clock, if you talk to a friend he will understand but if you arrange a business meeting with a person you do not know, then you will say, see you at 7 o'clock if it is in the morning or 19 o'clock if it is in the evening

[@Ascension721]

It will never not mess with my head for a second when reading 24 hour clock and I've been living my life with that as the dominant way.

[@Dread_2137]

​@@tihomirrasperici call 19 "7 afternoon/evening" (for summer/winter) to avoid problems, or just say 19, whatever comes to my mind first, tho I'm not from english speaking country

[@gedge726]

@@tihomirrasperic I've never heard anyone in the UK ever say 19 o'clock before this video. You'd say 7am or 7pm if you wanted to clarify that.

[@michaelregan352]

​@@tihomirraspericNo, you just say 7am or 7pm...

[@Emmerssun]

I had to jump in on the whole time issue. So in the UK we learn both the 12 hour clock and the 24 clock and this is now a standard part of the curriculum. In the same way (most) of us still learn the imperial and the metric system, then we interchange these formats depending on the situation and circumstances. In casual conversation we would probably use the 12 hour clock, so if you wanted to meet someone at 7:30 in the evening you'd say 7:30pm, you probably wouldn't go all militaristic on your friends and say "I'll meet you at 19:30 hours." In a formal situation it's more normal to see the 24 hour system used to avoid any confusion, say for the opening and closing times for a business, or if you need to catch a flight at the airport at exactly 5 in the morning then the announcement would say the flight name departing at O-five-hundred-hours, so literally 05:00 (0-5-00) or if it was 05:45 in the morning it would say O-five-forty-five hours (05-45) If the flight was exactly 5 in the evening then it would be seventeen-hundred-hours (17:00) or if it was 5:45 in the evening it would be seventeen-forty-five (17:45) An exact hour always ends as 'hundred hours' and whole am hours between (0-9) always start with 'O' Another way to look at it is instead of a clock it's just mathematical assigned units (thousands | hundreds | tens | units) and Americans tend to be somewaht familiar with this anyway, most commonly with money, if you say $1900 you tend to say "nineteen-hundred-dollars" rather than "one-thousand-nine-hundred-dollars" or $1930 would be "nineteen-hundred-and-thirty-dollars" as opposed to "one-thousand-nine-hundred-and-thirty-dollars" same sort of thing with the 24 hour clocks.

[@glebealyth]

It is taught extremely badly. How else would you have people writing, in official correspondence no less, that their office is open "Between 09:00 am to 17:00 pm". This also demonstrates that English teachers seem not to know that 'between' takes the conjunction 'and', not the preposition 'to'.

[@jenrobertson9453]

I wonder if Americans pronounce O-five-hundred-hours as zero-five-hundred-hours?

[@peterhoz]

1:42 "I can't name a single British address". With the video frozen on the Prime Minister's residence of 10 Downing Street. It's nickname is literally Number 10 and it is on screen as you say it.

[@scottosborne2915]

ho its the street of many fools you could say

[@carveorpawley4406]

Your assuming people outside the UK would recognise that door, or even the guy stood in front of it. 😅

[@graveperil2169]

@@carveorpawley4406 he just did videos on the election and Larry

[@corese75]

I know a few : Downing street 1,2,3,4,5 ...

[@AltCutTV]

It's where the cat lives.

[@jaakkomantyjarvi7515]

It's just as well that he didn't talk about what British currency used to be like before 1973, when the pound was divided into 20 shillings, each divided into 12 pence (pennies), with coins in denominations of 1, 3 and 6 pence, 1 shilling (=12 pence), 2 shillings (=24 pence) and 2.5 shillings (half crown, =30 pence). Prices would be given in pounds/shillings/pence, or £/s/d, so you would never see a price given as, say, 42 pence but instead 3/6 (or --/3/6 if necessary in the context to make it clear it's not 3 pounds). In the words of the late great author Terry Pratchett "the British resisted conversion to decimal currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated."

[@heatherhoward2513]

Yep. I can still talk in pounds shillings pence if I have to.

[@davepx1]

Go back further and you've our "fourth" too, the farthing (fourthing), a quarter of a penny - "-thing" (with a soft "th") being the old form for saying fractions (preserved also in the three traditional Ridings of Yorkshire, thirds or trithings with the initial "t" dropping off over time. 3/6 would always be shillings and pence, though: if pounds were involved it'd usually be written as (for instance) £1 3s 6d - the 3/6 form would only be preserved over £1 if instead you wrote it as 23/6 (which I think I've seen, but I don't think it was common).

[@Helen-cw1qs]

Or before 15th February 1971, I think you mean

[@davepx1]

@@Helen-cw1qs Well we don't have shillings since then, so the distinction's academic. So 3/6 in British monetary notation was always 3s 6d, and that remains its (now historical) meaning. You'd never see £3 6s (old) or £3.06 (new) as 3/6.

[@Helen-cw1qs]

@@davepx1 It was my birthday which is why I remember it. I’m an academic historian so it is, indeed, academic to get details correct. 👍 My subject is late medieval socio economics.

[@andybaker2456]

It's only the US and a couple of other countries that use the MM/DD/YYYY date format. Pretty much every other country use either DD/MM/YYYY, or some other format that's easily understood by other countries, such as YYYY-MM-DD. As a UK-based employee of a company whose HQ is in the US, it's so annoying that you just HAVE to be different, it causes so much confusion! 🤬

[@etherealbolweevil6268]

For sorting purposes, YYYY-MM-DD-HH-SS provides a nice chronological sort on a computer as long as you use NNNN-NN-NN-NN-NN. Search for - nato stanag 2014.

[@marydavis5234]

You can blame the British military for the US date system, they used month/ day/ year ,when colonizing the 13 original colonies.

[@russellbradley454]

Read somewhere it's because of the way computers present numbers.

[@russellbradley454]

I First used 24 Hr or continental time in the 1950's has part of my hobby has a radio amateur where amateurs used GMT So all contacts would match. And was standard practice in the Military when we where working stations from Hong Kong , Singapore and Germany !

[@minnie1185]

@andybaker2456 I’m in the same boat and it’s so frustrating. The work issued laptop also uses US spellcheck which is annoying. But it’s easier to conform to US style rather than colleagues picking up my spelling ‘mistakes’ 😫

[@yvonnephillips9710]

NINO (National insurance number) is personal to everyone in the UK , We use it for paying tax on earnings PAYE or self-employed. Regarding time, we call it a 24 hour clock rather than military time, we would still call 14:00 hours 2 o clock.

[@GlenInvestorUK]

For the "deep divers". After working as a road surveyor I learnt that all named roads in UK have an individual alpha numeric name just like the major roads (e.g. M1, A20, B2467 etc.) housing estates will usually be an E or D road (e.g. Privet Drive = E26346). This is because there are multiple roads with the same name, quite often in the same area, and you don't want to dig up the wrong one when doing repairs or laying pipes. I know they did run from A to E (M for Motorways) but as new houses are built this may have expanded. So theoretically you could write an address as '72 D245' and it would still be delivered. The problem is when the same road passes through different villages or towns and has different name or they number for the village (e.g. A1 might be called London Road in places or Oxford Road in others and have several no. 1's 2's & 3's along the way). This is where the Postcode comes in as Important. If you read all this I hope it was interesting. I am a bit "Geeky" at times.

[@HDRW]

That's today's "You learn something every day" item - Thanks!

[@sarahwhite8135]

You can also tell where a road originated by its number - the roads beginning with 1 run NE fròm London, those beginning with 2 run SE, those beginning with 3 run SW and those beginning with 4 run NW from London. Then the roads beginning with 5 run S from Birmingham and the 6's run N. The 8's run out of Manchester, I think, and the 7's and 9's are in Scotland. I believe this begun when there were just the post roads which would have had the A1, A2 etc label. As roads were built branching off these roads they were given extra numbers so the 1st road built off the A1 became the A10 (which is one zero, not ten) And then the first road that branched off the A10 became the A100 and so on. As major roads were built the roads were renumbered (for example where I grew up, in Worthing, Sussex we used to drive along the A27 to Brighton until they built the Shoreham bypass which became part of the A27 and the part of the road which had been bypassed became the A270 and i think the old A270 became the B270!) M roads are motorways. It's all become pretty confusing over the years but you can still make a pretty accurate guesstimate as to where a road is in the country just by its number.

[@philiptownsend4026]

Apart from the A34 which is a surprisingly long road.

[@seans_shed]

I’m in the NHS we use 24-hour clock when writing care notes as it is clearer, there’s no misunderstanding but in conversation or handover we might say 1am or 1 o’clock last night rather than 13:00. A care note saying just 1 o’clock might mean at night or day and be being read days later so no-one might know, other than looking at when the note was written which takes more time.

[@charmainelee8815]

In the hospital system in australia we also use the24hour clock

[@Koji-Alistair]

That's kinda standard

[@hilarypower6217]

I hope you wouldn't say 13:00 when you mean 1am.........

[@HeberFerrazLeite]

in Austria it's the same ... when we talk we say "we meet at 7 in the evening", and when you write we write "at 19:00".

[@BrightonandHoveActually]

But, assuming you are the same as Germany, would not "half nine" mean 08:30 (or 20:30), rather than 09:30 (or 21:30)?

[@sharonmartin4036]

@@BrightonandHoveActually Only if you are speaking in German, Dutch or Afrikaans. If you are speaking English in Germany you would say it the English way.

[@heindaddel2531]

@@sharonmartin4036Only if you are an ignorant idiot who doesn’t wants to adapt

[@alanstead1379]

Saying ‘half-eight’ for example is just a shortened version of saying ‘half past eight’, that’s all.

[@heindaddel2531]

@@alanstead1379 Well, in German speaking countries “half-eight” means 07:30/19:30 because of the fact that “half” is only the half of the eighth hour, which makes sense.

[@gastrickbunsen1957]

It's a 24hr clock but we will look at digital clock and translate it into a 12hr clock e.g the clock reads 22:14 and when asked the time we'll reply, nearly a quarter past 10.

[@phoenixheart79]

Time of the day, we refer to it as the 24 hour clock not 'military time'. We use the 24 hour clock mainly for recording purposes - eg: started order ABC at 09:27, started order order XYZ at 16:39. Most of us will have our digital devices set to 24 hour clock as well, but in casual conversation we'll just say "7:30" and rely on conversational context to fill in if we mean AM or PM. Like "That film we're going to see tomorrow evening starts at 8:45". Also, no one says 19 o-clock, if you do speak it aloud, you'd say "19 hundred".

[@valvesofvalvino]

The mental gymnastics Tyler was doing when learning how British people tell the time had me in stiches!

[@judithmorganjudyteen]

Is it put on ?

[@buddyplayz4208]

As a UK citizen, born and raised here, I can confirm we still say one or two o'clock if it's the afternoon, just our clocks say it

[@MichaelFMeyer-lz5fv]

He "i am just a typical american" Me: "nice, let´s wait what dumb stuff he will say"

[@adrianwaygood7156]

'Military time' (normally referred to as the '24-hour clock') is understood by most Brits but is not usually used on a day-to-day basis during conversations. HOWEVER, all European timetables are expressed in 'military time' which is why clocks and watches are set to 'military time' and why most Brits are used to using it.

[@TheRealRedAce]

It isn't "military" time - its just time. USA is so behind the larger world.

[@sanitychek]

"I can't name a single UK address" - said looking at 10 Downing Street in the still image. I've had houses with a single digit number.

[@christopherbetts9173]

and I know a few address with 4 digit numbers.

[@azynkron]

You assume he knows what that is.. and it's highly unlikely.

[@leonbanks5728]

SW1A 2AA.

[@josiecoote8975]

​@@christopherbetts9173me too.

[@macraghnaill3553]

@@leonbanks5728 That look like a post code

[@robcrossgrove7927]

We don't call it Military time here, we call it The 24 hour clock. Most digital clocks, including your computer give you the option of using the 12 hour clock or the 24 hour. But we generally don't use the 24 hour clock just when chatting to each other or arranging appointments, but shops often list their opening times in the 24 hour, but not always. Bus and train timetables are usually in the 24 hour format. We *DO* use AM and PM as well, depending on the circumstances. You would *say* it's 1pm or 1 O'Clock, or 4 pm or 4 O Clock. Like I said above, we don't really use it in every day conversation. Unless you're reacting to Lawrence Brown on You Tube 😁 I learnt to tell the time using the 24 hour clock when I was at school. I think I was about 12. I didn't connect it with the military at that time because I was too young.

[@monicawarner4091]

Thanks Rob, I'd forgotten Lawrence's name. I only watched a couple of his videos before I realised he knows very little about the UK. His brain is locked in the 1950s, and he hasn't noticed the changes in all aspects of life here when, or if, he has visited his parents in Grimsby. 🙄 I rarely watch Tyler these days either. I feel my IQ dropping when I watch either of them.

[@anitafox.-hf9zc]

Midnight to midday is Midnight 12:00 AM, 1AM, 2AM, 3AM, 4AM, 5AM, 6AM and so on, until Midday 12:00PM Then to use the 24 hr clock, you would then say 1: 00PM becomes 13:00 hundred hrs. 2:00 PM becomes 14:00 hundred hrs. As in 12 PM, 13, 14, 15, 16 etc until you reach 12AM and then it goes back to 1, 2, 3.4.5.6 again. You might hear someone say ie: zero : 200 hrs which means 2AM and so on, until midday, then 1: 00 PM becomes 13: 00 hundred hours. 12: 15 PM = quarter past the hr, 12: 30 PM = half past the hr 12:45 PM= quarter to 13:00 PM (the next hr) We might also say, at 12:35 PM the time is now twenty five Minutes to 1:00PM and 12:40 PM the time is now twenty Minutes to 1: 00 PM ( this just means 25 minutes before the next hr begins, or 20 minutes before the next hr begins.)

[@franroxburgh6055]

The school year terminology is important because in the UK, according to our famous 1944 education act, every child must be in a class according to age. There's no exam to pass, no-one is ever held back or made to repeat a class. I'm old enough to have had a teacher in primary (elementary) school who grew up before 1944. He remembered the playground (school yard) in his day being dominated by huge bullies who were stuck in standard (grade) 2. Now, by law, all students stay with their age group and should be given work appropriate to their ability and aptitude. This also prevents pushy parents from having their children promoted to a class with older children where they can't even change into their P.E. kit on time, let alone compete on the sports field.

[@jameswcollett]

20:48 In Britain no-one sane says "Nineteen o'clock".

[@MegaMonkeVr]

They just say 7 o’clock

[@Spursrule1969]

The simple reason for using 2 letters at the beginning of a National Insurance number is it gives more numbers, Using two number first only gives you 99 options, Using two letters gives you 26 x 26 = 676 options.

[@tonycrayford3893]

My brother and I have running numbers for our NI numbers and we're 2 years apart.

[@paulusarnhelm704]

On most British roads or streets you'll find that all the even numbers are on one side and all the odds on the other

[@ianmoseley9910]

In London it is also the case that, for most roads, from the low number end, the even numbers will be on the right and the odd on the left

[@Hertog_von_Berkshire]

True!

[@helenb1374]

This is so true and then the council built our estate and did the numbers starting on the first house on the left and going down that side and back up the other. 🤯

[@deankeith2507]

@@ianmoseley9910 it is the same country wide and low numbers are nearer to a town or city centre ... having said that there is a road near me wear the odds and evens are on what i consider the wrong side

[@seileach67]

We do that in the US also, at least in the small towns and mid-sized cities in which I've lived.

[@sdtpilote]

In France we can say 19h (o'clock) or 7h (o'clock) alternatively depending on context and people preferences (h is pronounced heure (hour), it is a unit guys, use it...). I think the 12 hours format is used because of analogue watches that only show 12 hours. We do not have am or pm equivalent, so saying 19h instead of 7h can avoid confusions depending on the context, otherwise you would specify in the afternoon, in the evening, in the morning (no shortcuts). Strangely, when you want to meet someone in the morning the confusion remains no matter what, so " 7h du mat' " (7am) is common. Last but not least we have a weird rule about the french equivalent of use of "quarter to X”, you use this only in a 12 hours format, in 24 hour format you say all numbers 13h45.

[@crackpot148]

In UK taxi drivers use satnav. They just enter your postcode and house number and the satnav directs the driver via shortest route right up to front door.

[@Nodster]

Probably best not to say that to a London Taxi driver then because this is not true ^^ in that instance and you will end up with a week long speech about The Knowledge.

[@BrightonandHoveActually]

Not necessarily. Most residential addresses share their postcodes.

[@scottirvine121]

@@BrightonandHoveActuallybut not the house number! It takes you to the door if you enter it

[@fermitupoupon1754]

That doesn't work in all of the UK though. Plenty of rural postcodes cover more than one street or even village, some houses don't even have a number but a name instead. A friend of mine lives in an old lighthouse and her address is literally "The old lighthouse" in some little hamlet between Kent and Cornwall. There is no street name and no house number.

[@deankeith2507]

@@BrightonandHoveActually usually no more than 15 addresses

[@Ylyrra]

Post codes can narrow you down to 2-3 houses, not just a street. For 24 vs 12 hour time, most Brits use 12 hour format conversationally, and most clocks use 12 hour format too (even digital ones), but ALL public transport clocks and timetables use 24 hour format, so pretty much everyone is familiar with it. Pretty much every digital clock that you can buy also has a switch so you can choose which format you prefer. Phone "area codes" is a colloquialism more than an accurate description, they're more a "purpose designation", and "geographic area" can be one of those. That used to be the primary purpose most people would see, so everyone just called them area codes, but you'd also get area codes indicating tariff rate (0800 being the freephone number for example, ie toll-free, and various "premium rate" numbers where you'd be charged more). Basically anything with an 08* prefix was a special tariff, so you could tell it wasn't a "normal" number. When mobile phones came along a bunch of codes in this "special tariff" range were used, because the mobile phone companies charged extra (I'm simplifying here!). Eventually enough people had mobile phones that a new prefix was created and basically anything starting 07* is a mobile number. US companies having local area codes for mobile phones is also a historical quirk of billing, because unlimited toll-free "local" calls was a big thing in the US and would have been a huge barrier to mobile phone adoption, whereas in the UK unlimited free local calls only really came in around the same time as mobile phones and pretty much only existed for a few years until most companies started offering unlimited free calls to most numbers rather than just local. Seriously, you can fill an entire video on just the weird different ways phones have worked between the UK and US and how those differences have had knock-on effects even though the original reasons have disappeared.

[@jaccilowe3842]

We learned about the 24 hr clock in grade 3 (1964). I can remember it well. Try catching a plane without the 24 hr clock! You say fifteen hundred hours for 3pm for example.

[@martinwebb1681]

Or a train etc, all departure times are shown in the 24 hour clock, or if you are booking tickets for a concert, cinema or theatre show they all use the 24 hour clock, it just stops any confusion and mistakes from happening.

[@tubekulose]

"Fifteen hundred hours"? Isn't that the way it is verbalized in the US army only? I'm from Austria. Therefore I use the standard 24 hr clock system but I've never encountered time designations like "fifteen hundred" except from military context in American movies. In German we verbalize the time using the term "Uhr" meaning "o' clock" for every daytime - also for the hours beyond noon (!!!). We put it as in the following examples: 07 am (7:00) would be "7 Uhr", 11 am (11:00) would be "11 Uhr" AND 04 pm (16:00) would be "16 Uhr" accordingly. So, we don't say "1600 (Sechzehnhundert/sixteen hundred)" We don't say "2200 (Zweiundzwanzighundert/twenty-two hundred)" either but "22 Uhr". By the way, when minutes come into play they will be put behind the "Uhr": 6 to 7pm would be "18 Uhr 54" 🙂

[@drsnova7313]

No, you don't. You either say "3 o'clock" if it's clear from context what time of day it is, or "15 o'clock" or "at 15" or some linguistic variation of it, or do use am/pm in speaking if you need to be precise. But "Fifteen hundred hours" is probably not used by anyone outside the military.

[@juliaw151]

​@@tubekuloseabsolutely not. My father was UK army, he spoke that way. 0800, 1500 hrs et cetera.

[@Yaz00]

Dude it is the same for the majority in the world. The U.S are not the center of the world

[@niteloon6073]

My aunt and uncle lived in Plainville Kansas for over 70 years. My aunt taught music in high school and taught private piano lessons. She ALWAYS put THREE MUSICAL NOTES after her name. So once I just put the musical notes, Plainville Kansas only for the address. It got to her, she got a laugh out of it.

[@cyclonetaylor7838]

Before postal codes came out in Canada I sent a letter to my friend in Edmonton. (One of the biggest cities in western Canada). All it had on it was Killer Wallington, Bohunkville , Alberta and he got it.

[@ianhoward4246]

Plainville..... sounds like an exciting place 😂😂❤✌️

[@StephenBoothUK]

Back when I was in school, I’m 54, what is now reception (age 4-5) was first year infants. After were second and third year infants. Then you moved to Junior school (could be another part of the same school (usually with a separate staff, assembly hall &c) or an entirely different school all together). There you started at first year again and carried on to fourth year. Infants and Juniors together comprised Primary education. Then you moved into Senior school which was secondary education, again back to first year. At the end of the third year you chose your options which at the time were you O-Levels, now GCSE, which you studied through your fourth and fifth years and sat the exams for at the end of your fifth year. At this point you were 16 and could leave school. Alternatively you could stay on for Sixth Form, which could be at the same school or could be a different school or a Sixth Form College. You could also choose to go to a Further Education college. Sixth Form, whether in a school or college, tended to be more formal that FE college and was largely focused on A-Levels as an entrance qualification for university. You could go to FE college for A-Levels but they tended to offer a wider variety of courses, in particular more vocational based courses, and you were more likely to be studying along side older students who were either retaking courses they had failed or were returning to learn after working for some time. As I understand it FE colleges in the UK are kind of equivalent the Junior or Community college in the US. University is equivalent to College in the US but your degree is only 3 years and you choose your subject at the start (no such thing as an undeclared) and usually study just one subject on a set course of study, everyone doing that degree studies the same course. You might, usually in the final year, get to choose from some options but you’re usually only going to get two or possibly three and they will be limited to people doing that degree (so if you were studying Biology you couldn’t decide you wanted to do a History option course). I understand at US colleges there’s a general education requirement, courses all students do regardless of their degree, we didn’t have that. There were exceptions to the one subject rule. Some universities offer combined degrees like PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) although it’s effectively one subject and there is a set course of study. Some universities (only 2 when I was doing it, Keele and Loughborough) do joint honours where you study two degrees side by side, a dual major sort of situation. I went to Keele and studied Biochemistry and Electronics. Due to something called the Open College Network, now if you go to FE college you could do something akin to a US degree by studying a bunch of different courses as separate qualifications and then combining the credits to convert to a degree or even a Masters. I don’t know of anyone who has set out to do that by design but do know some people who have studied courses over a period of years for various reasons then discovered that they could combine them to a degree, usually by doing a project that brought them together.

[@eumaeus]

We're the same age. I still get confused with this new fangled 'year' system. BTW I work in a college...

[@StephenBoothUK]

@@eumaeus I was invited to do practice job interviews with Year Tens, I had to ask work colleagues who had kids how old that would be.

[@keithsmith6553]

I'm 70 and that's how it was in my day too. Much simpler.

[@johnobrien6466]

Im 50 an when i was in school in scotland our school system was primary 1 to 7 then you went to high or secondery school from 1st year to 7th year being 18year olds who stayed on at school now its all gone crazy with primary 1 being year 1 😵

[@derbrot2428]

In Germany we still use the 'old' counting style, which is very confusing to think about when hearing americans talk about big numbers because I have to 'translate' the numbers in my head: German numbers: 1,000,000 = million 1,000,000,000 = milliard 1,000,000,000,000 = billion 1,000,000,000,000,000 = billiard 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = trillion American numbers: 1,000,000 = million 1,000,000,000 = billion 1,000,000,000,000 = trillion 1,000,000,000,000,000 = quadrillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = quintillion

[@eumaeus]

I think, but I may be wrong, the reason for the UK following America was to do with the NASDAQ and London Stock Exchange. Imagine buying a billion of something from either respective country only to find...wow! I still think the pre 1974 system, as with Germany, clearly, is far more logical; but hey, the US and logic are not synonymous (looks at Trump...). Have a good day, cousin. Edit: typo. NASDAQ not NASDAC

[@gailltidetymothy2528]

Yep for this wikipédia is fairly acurate , germans numbers are actually the long scale numbers, which most of Europe use except some twists, depending of the country, mine too(France). The US use the short scale numbers, that mean there are no "-illiard" words . Voilà , I will stop there , numbers are just too complicated

[@elgoruk6923]

The logic would be a billion billion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) is a trillion. Anything short of a billion billion you could describe by e.g. nine hundred thousand million billion = 900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

[@Ian-ev5tg]

Is that to make it seem like you killed less Jews? So everyone says you killed a billion and you say “no actually, only a Milliard”

[@esteczka]

Polish has the same

[@theaiden5285]

Imagine having a speaking voice that sounded like you were meant to be the comic relief/idiot from a sitcom.

[@leeachristie]

The thing that confuses me the most about American numbers is when they say "fifteen hundred" instead of the proper British way "one thousand, five hundred". When I watch these pawn shop shows like "Pawn Stars", when I hear "fifteen (something)" and in my head I always have to pause to think about whether they just said 15,000 or 1,500. "Twenty-six hundred?" "Twenty-seven hundred?" "Twenty-eight hundred?" "Twenty-nine hundred?" "Three *thousand*?" "Thirty-one hundred?" It just breaks the flow of numbers when you hit a multiple of 1,000!

[@DitDotDan]

What do they say past 10,000? 🤔 Connected to that, though I'm not sure if it's archaic, exclusively British or an Americanism, I think about how people used to say the year: "In the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty nine..." - why not just eighteen sixty nine?

[@fermitupoupon1754]

It might be an influence from other languages. In Dutch we would say "eleven hundred" because we omit the 'one' part from multiples of hundred and thousand. So "one thousand something" becomes "thousand something" and "one hundred something" becomes "hundred something". This then compounds to make "thousand hundred" from "one thousand one hundred". This "thousand hundred" is annoyingly close to "hundred thousand" and it's just easier to say "eleven hundred" and avoid all the confusion. So yes, "eleven hundred" "twenty-one hundred" etc are commonly used here because they emphasise a one that would otherwise be omitted.

[@fermitupoupon1754]

@@DitDotDan "eleven thousand"? Also I think that if you go out of your way to say "in the year of our lord" to begin with, you might as well go full hog and say "eighteen hundred". It sounds way more pompous and grandiose than just "eighteen" or even "one thousand eight hundred" as that starts with one which sounds diminutive. The real frustrating part comes with larger numbers. A thousand million is called a "milliard", it's not a "billion". A billion is a thousand milliard, or a million million. A trillion is a million billion, or a million million million.

[@DrVStewart]

But we do also say fifteen hundred in the UK to mean 1500

[@mobbs6426]

​@@fermitupoupon1754this has officially melted my brain. I think I prefer cutting it off at the hundreds and treating each illion like a metric adjustment. Q T B M So, 999,999,999,999,999,999 B M. M 1 less than a trillion is 9 hundred & 99 thousand 9 hundred & 99 billion, 9 hundred & 99 milliard 9 hundred & 99 million, 9 hundred & 99 thousand, 9 hundred & 99.m Much simpler, is just 9 hundred & 99 quadrillion, 9 hundred & 99 trillion, 9 hundred & 99 billion, 9 hundred & 99 million, 9 hundred & 99 thousand, 9 hundred & 99 9 has officially lost all meaning to my eyes. Do you sub billiard and trilliard in place of the thousand billion and thousand trillion respectively?

[@THEBOB566974]

we do translate it to the 12 hour clock when we talk to each other though so if some one asks me for the time ill look at my phone read 17:45 I would say 5:45 or quarter to 6

[@GadgeteerZA]

The 24-hour clock is actually an international ISO 8601: The Global Time Standard. It was intended to eliminate confusion caused by different regional date and time formats. The format is easily processed by software and databases. It is why in our country we use YYYY-MM-DD as well.

[@markaskew]

Someone's been using Google 😂

[@GadgeteerZA]

@@markaskew Gemini yes - one has to look up the numbers, too many ISO numbers to remember ;-)

[@wyterabitt2149]

The computer argument is always pointless though. You can code it to store, recall, and display any information in any way you want. You could store it as DM/YD/YMYY if you wanted, once setup it would make no practical difference at all. Before computers it was better to store things with year first, but even then displaying information and communicating would be better dd/mm and then year of really needed in nearly all situations.

[@GadgeteerZA]

@@wyterabitt2149 yes true for actual computers (especially our own one or where we can set regional preferences), but the problem is where we may see dates (and times) displayed on a screen, a video, or form to be filled in etc. Other thing I think for a computer to handle a date format correctly, the stored date would have to comply with whatever date format the computer expects, otherwise it is going to be gibberish (the computer not knowing whether 03042024 is mmddyyy or ddmmyy so it does have to be defined). It's something I suppose we'll have to live with as there seems to be zero way of getting the world's population to use any single standard at all whether it's distance, temperature, dates, calendars, etc. I'm just grateful we mostly all agree on there being 24 hours in a day.

[@dallasfrost1996]

12hr clock is considered the 'standard' format here in New Zealand, that's how it was taught to me. I have never used the 24hr format, but I am aware of it.

[@stevengibson3853]

We don't say thirteen o clock or thirteen hundred. We just say 1 and if the person you're talking to isn't an absolute idiot they would know if you meant 1am or pm. We do not say 13 to 23 o clock

[@MSzat888]

In Polish we do milion, miliard, bilion, biliard, trylion, tryliard, when in English it would be million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion and sextillion respectively

[@dominiquejeangille9254]

Same in french. Probably the origin of the old British, they just forgot about the milliard along the way then the US system made more sense. But to be fair in practice nobody ever uses billion billiard and the rest. We just have a thousand milliard, a million milliard etc. Above this only scientists ever encounter larger numbers and they use exponent notations 😂

[@billyhills9933]

I believe that the old British 'thousand million' as described in the video could also be called a milliard. A billiard is, however, a game like snooker.

[@alexamurawski4524]

as we do in German

[@fmaximus]

And Dutch

[@davepx1]

Yes, that's the traditional (and proper) European form. The US dropping of the "-illiard" intervals has completely messed up the sequence.

[@lizvickers7156]

Its very easy to confuse an American just give them a few numbers,dates and they would still be trying to figure it 12 months later.

[@jackbarrie6007]

The yanks can't work out how and where to use the decimal point in Australia we have been using it for at least 50 years

[@dyidyirr]

In Germany, we use the 24-hour system as well. But colloquially, we say "3 o' clock" (in German, of course) for 3 in the afternoon as well (we will never add "in the afternoon", if we use that it's clear from context). My Alexa, set to German, always annoys me if I tell it "remind me at 3 o' clock" (again, in German) and it asks back if I mean 3 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon. I'm now used to telling it "15 o' clock" immediately (but in German), so there's no need for further interaction

[@michaelgrabner8977]

I would answer Alexa "a human would know - Blechtrottel"

[@jono4caz]

I'm brittish living in the UK 🇬🇧 and as someone else has mentioned we don't call it military time we just call it 24 hour clock. But I'm going to say now I really don't like the 24 hour clock format I find it confusing. I'm actually way more comfortable with the 12 hour format of am and pm it just seems way more simpler for me.

[@ClassicRiki]

10:55 we wouldn’t say “grade” at all. It’s “Year 10”

[@mrs7serpents157]

I'm a postie. All we need is a house number and a postcode to know exactly where your house is

[@PreceptorGrant]

My dad once sent a postcard home from a business trip with nothing but our name and the postcode, just to see if it'd arrive. Sure enough, it did. Glory to the posties!

[@johnrussell5245]

I live in a farm with no number. Now I know why my post goes missing :-)

[@Brian3989]

@@johnrussell5245 When I was at school lived on a farm in England. address was ... farm, village, city. No road name, had to tell fire brigade hos to find that location. Now it has a post code and those post codes get copied to map programs.

[@disappointedenglishman98]

No, you're a postman. There is no such thing as a "postie" - this is the extreme degenderised language being peddled by the Royal Mail.

[@billyhills9933]

So why do I sometimes end up having to redeliver mail to other houses which have the same number as mine but a completely different post code (and, of course, road name)?

[@lbewl7374]

24 hour time is spoken as a 12 hour time because it's assumed you know if AM or PM is being refered to. No kid starts scool at 9pm, no office shift ends at 5am. Ad you know which 12 hour block you're in when you ask the time. I, as an insomniac, that sleeps when I can at times, have found the 24 hour clock very helpful when waking up at 5 o'clock in winter when bith 5am and pm are dark outside.

[@trevorbailey1548]

Most UK clocks can be changed between 12 and 24 hours as preferred .We never say 13 o'clock or similar

[@jellylemonade1655]

i just say one o'clock