Question

[mcletuan]

What time does this mean? "It's twenty minutes ater the hour." Thanks.

[Harry Smith]

What time does this mean? "It's twenty minutes ater the hour." Thanks.

It must be 1.20 a.m or p.m

[Philly]

Hi mcletuan
.
"It's twenty minutes after the hour" can mean any of the following (a.m. or p.m.):
1:20
2:20
3:20
4:20
5:20
6:20
7:20
8:20
9:20
10:20
11:20
12:20

For example:
If it was 5 o'clock twenty minutes ago, then it is "twenty minutes after the hour" now.
(In this case, 5:00 = the hour)

[Barb_D]

Is it possible you are confused because it says "ater" instead of "after"? If that mistake was in the original, I can see why you would be confused! (If it was your typing error, nevermind! I make a lot of typos too!)

[Casiopea]

Is it possible you are confused because it says "ater" instead of "after"?

Hold on. I'm a little confused. Does "the hour" in after the hour refer to 1 o'clock in the USA?

All the best.

[Ouisch]

Hold on. I'm a little confused. Does "the hour" in after the hour refer to 1 o'clock in the USA?

All the best.

No. I'm presuming he was just giving an example. "After the hour" means you have to keep an eye on the clock if you want to know which hour it's 20 minutes after.

[Barb_D]

No, sorry, I meant the original poster. If he or she reading something that said "It's 20 ater the hour" without being fluent in the Typo varient of the English language, it could have caused confusion. I guess I wasn't clear.

"After the hour" could be ANY hour. In fact, if someone is on a syndicated radio program, he will probaly say that, rather than the local time, because someone broadcasting from Chicago would give the "wrong" time for someone listening in New York or LA.

[Casiopea]

"After the hour" could be ANY hour.

Thank goodness. For a minute there I thought I may have lost my language - I've been in Asia for 7 years.