"I got late to sleep today" or "I got late in sleeping today"

[Tarheel]

This discussion is getting weird.

If I said "I went to bed late last night" the clear implication would be that I didn't go to sleep until I went to bed. If that wasn't what I meant there would be no reason to say that. As always, context matters. Why did I say that? Well, maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night because I went to bed so late.

Well, it's rather early. I'd better go back to bed so I can get more sleep.

 

[Rover_KE]

tufguy confused the issue from the beginning by including the word 'today' without giving us a reason for it or a context in which it might be used. We used to insist he only asked us about real-life situations - not hypothetical ones.

His sentences could only be said later in the day by, for example, a night-shift worker, whose practice was to go to bed in the morning and get up about eight hours later.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm wondering whether the use of the simple verb 'sleep' to mean what we Brits would say with 'fall asleep' or 'go to sleep' is a common feature of American English. I can't find the source now, but a couple of days ago I saw something on social media by an American woman, along the lines of:

This is what happens when you sleep after midnight.

Although it was obvious from context that she was talking about the drawbacks of going to sleep late, the way she phrased it sounded really wrong. To me, and I assume also to the other Brits here, it appears to have almost the opposite meaning.

Can any Americans confirm whether this particular use of 'sleep' sounds natural? I'm going to guess that tedmc's suggestion in post #9 may be the product of exposure to American English.

 

[probus]

It's not common in Canada, nor any AmE dialect I am familiar with. We'd normally say fall asleep or go to sleep as you do in BrE.