half past

liz   Mon May 19, 2008 4:46 am GMT
what does 'half past eight' mean?
Guest   Mon May 19, 2008 6:41 am GMT
It means it's 8:30.
bill from Warwick   Thu May 22, 2008 1:23 am GMT
Exactly. Be careful though- in England, Ireland, and Scotland peoples say "half eight" when they mean 7:30!
Guest   Thu May 22, 2008 1:53 am GMT
Surely "half eight" means 4:00.
Paul   Thu May 22, 2008 2:03 am GMT
Bill from Warwick,

I cannot speak for England and Scotland, but In Ireland "Half eight" means 8:30.

In German "Halb acht" would be 7:30
Matt   Thu May 22, 2008 10:03 am GMT
Bill from Warwick:

I don't know where you got that information from, but that's definitely not correct.

"Half eight" means 8.30 in England.
Bill from Warwick   Thu May 22, 2008 4:35 pm GMT
You're right! I was confusing it with the German!
Ralph   Sat May 31, 2008 10:52 pm GMT
English meaning of "half eight" is also against the logic. If you go to a pub and ask for half a pint of orange juice, you will expect getting 0.5 pint, not 1.5 pint.
Skippy   Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:04 am GMT
I've never heard "half 8" in the US. I suppose if one were speaking of time I'd assume half PAST 8, though if it wasn't temporal in meaning, I'd say "four."
Russconha   Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:04 am GMT
You assume correctly Skippy.
serisolas   Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:51 pm GMT
To Ralph:

I'm sorry but I fail to see your logic. If you ask for half a pint of something, you get ONE HALF OF A PINT. this is written as 0.5 pint. To get 1.5 pints, you would have to ask for (repeat after me) ONE AND A HALF PINTS. I don't know what planet you're from, maybe you don't have a very good grasp of the english language, or maybe you are just an idiot, but I just fail to see the reason for your confusion.
Badjack   Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:00 pm GMT
Serisolas, don't you think you were kind of harsh there, dude? Ralph is saying that if 8 = x and "half 8" = 8:30, you're really saying that half 8 equals X.5. In other words, following the same logic, half 8 means 8 + .5. Or 8 hours, plus another half hour. Therefore, if you go to the pub, asking for "half pint" would be like asking (following the formula) for a pint plus .5. So Ralph is not an idiot. He's merely pointing out that the logic behind the "half 8" doesn't add up when you apply the same logic or math to other scenarios.

So Serisolas, I'll accept an apology on behalf of Ralph, but I'll take it in pints of Guiness. 1.5 pints will be just fine.
Russconha   Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:43 am GMT
When you are going to the pub, it's pub o'clock and if you are half an hour late, it's half past pub.
Badjack   Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:15 am GMT
Russconha has the first part of the equation right. I would only add that new science has proven that E = MPub half
Ralph   Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:15 pm GMT
To Serisolas:
Logic is only one. There is no "my logic" or "your logic", 2 + 2 = 4 everywhere in the world.