# 9:11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031 "2005-04-19T12:03:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![huk24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f0a364/32.png) [@huk24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/huk24)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/1 "2005-04-19T12:03:21Z")
I don’t know why, but it seems that I always happen to look at the clock when it says 9:11…and that bothers me. Mostly because when 9/11 happened, people said I didn’t react as I should have. Do you think it’s just in my mind? My sister does it sometimes too and we run in each other’s rooms and go “Did you look at the clock!!!” Just…odd… ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/2 "2005-04-19T13:32:39Z")
I would assume you only notice when you look at the clock at that time, and do not pay attention all the other times when it does not say the time you are thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/3 "2005-04-19T13:33:41Z")
Or, to put it another way, you see only the hits, and not the misses. ---
**Author:** ![taxi78cab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@taxi78cab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taxi78cab)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/4 "2005-04-19T13:36:50Z")
I thought I was the only one who did this! It’s not happening as often, but especially right after 9/11, I definitely noticed whenever the time was 9:11. I think \*\*Scott\_plaid \*\*is right about only noticing the hits and not the misses, but it’s still kinda spooky sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/5 "2005-04-19T13:38:01Z")
23 ---
**Author:** ![EmeraldGrue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/6 "2005-04-19T13:42:58Z")
Yeah, my family has a thing like that with 11’s. Quirky at first, but 1. Hits & misses, like **Scott\_plaid** said. 2. Okay, so numbers recur…what’s that supposed to signify anyway, and how would you _know_ what it’s supposed to signify? /family skeptic ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/7 "2005-04-19T14:21:33Z")
Change your clock to 24hr display rather than AM/PM. Then you’ll only notice it half as much 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/8 "2005-04-19T14:36:11Z")
Same thing happens with me at 12:16. The address of the house I grew up in was 1216. Like others have said, you notice that you look at 9:11 because you have something to connect it to. If your wedding anniversary was on Halloween, you’d probably notice looking at the clock every time it said 10:31. You probably look at the clock more often than you realize (clockwatcher! get back to work!), but since 10:38 isn’t really symbolic of anything, you just don’t notice it. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/9 "2005-04-19T16:35:19Z")
I always notice when it’s 11:38, because I’m a Star Wars geek and [5:04](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loma_Prieta). ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/10 "2005-04-19T21:30:13Z")
Funny. I only notice 4:20. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/11 "2005-04-19T23:20:44Z")
> [@harmless](#): > > Funny. > I only notice 4:20. What about 00:42? ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/12 "2005-04-19T23:26:00Z")
It’s [The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything) ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/13 "2005-04-20T04:25:29Z")
This is weird. For a few mornings in a row last week, the first time I looked at the clock in the morning it read 9:11. I thought to myself that that was rather strange and I should post about it on the SDMB. But I didn’t … until now. ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/14 "2005-04-20T05:28:47Z")
Like others here say, you only notice the hits, not the misses. I, like harmless, notice 4:20 a lot. That said, today is April 20, and 4:20 just went by an hour or so ago… can’t believe I forgot about that… guess I should go, um, do something else instead of just sitting here reading SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/15 "2005-04-20T05:54:38Z")
This incident honestly gave me chills. I once woke up and was half-sleep. I glanced at my digital LED clock and it was 3:16 am. It hit me a few minutes later when I jumped up wide awake at 3:18 am. I suppose this happened because I was asleep and that was the time I happened to wake. Make of it what you will. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/16 "2005-04-20T06:41:06Z")
> [@Low Key](#): > > Like others here say, you only notice the hits, not the misses. I, like harmless, notice 4:20 a lot. That said, today is April 20, and 4:20 just went by an hour or so ago… can’t believe I forgot about that… guess I should go, um, do something else instead of just sitting here reading SDMB. Oh but you’ll be back. And everything will seem alot funnier. And this sentence will probably make you hungry. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/17 "2005-04-20T06:58:20Z")
Same here! I always notice when it’s 9:11. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/18 "2005-04-20T08:30:40Z")
I just got done reading **Kozmik** ’s post, and looked at my clock and … well, it was 3:15, but damn that was close. For a few months, I saw 3:16 constantly. It was mostly a combination of: 1. Remembering the hits and forgetting the misses, as others have said 2. The more I thought about how weird it was, the more memorable the hits became 3. My schedule. I started work at 3:30 pm and stayed up until roughly 3:30 am after work. Hence, I was very likely to look at a clock at roughly 3:16 pm to see if it was time to make the short drive to work, and also likely to look at it at roughly 3:16 am as my body was telling me that bedtime was approaching. ---
**Author:** ![rinni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rinni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rinni)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/19 "2005-04-20T13:45:55Z")
With me, my frequently seen number is 47. Heh, it’s 6:47 right now. And I didn’t even try that! ---
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031/20 "2005-04-20T14:11:46Z")
Yeah, add me to the list of people who seem to see the clock a lot at 9:11. Didn’t happen until way after the event, so I’m not sure why I’m picking up on it now. Still, as a wise person once said: statistically speaking, coincidences happen from time to time. ~ Isaac [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11/300031.md?page=2)