# Do you use military time? (for non-US English speakers.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096 "2006-09-01T17:50:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/21 "2006-09-02T07:45:44Z")
[QUOTE=seosamh] Er, they might have changed thing since my day Oop North. But until very recently, Merseyrail’s _printed_ timetables were in the 12 hour clock. [/QUOTE] Aha, you’re right. [Link](http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/railindex.asp). And they distinguish between am and pm by using different coloured backgrounds. Great for colour-blind people, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/22 "2006-09-02T08:21:12Z")
[QUOTE=Myglaren] My experience in Sweden was that 24-hour time was the norm. [/QUOTE] Well, yes and no. We change back and forth too. For casual, everyday conversation, it’s a twelve hour system: “Hey it’s a quarter past three, I need a coffee break”. From context, it’s quite obvious what time we’re talking about (even if it’s the night staff at the hospital, which would make it obvious from that context). However, bus schedules, tv listings and when I jot down the time for a meeting in a calender will all be 24h time. This is not something we think about conciously, i.e. we don’t convert from one to he other but rather parallel process. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/23 "2006-09-02T09:46:29Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] Well, yes and no. We change back and forth too. For casual, everyday conversation, it’s a twelve hour system: “Hey it’s a quarter past three, I need a coffee break”. From context, it’s quite obvious what time we’re talking about (even if it’s the night staff at the hospital, which would make it obvious from that context). However, bus schedules, tv listings and when I jot down the time for a meeting in a calender will all be 24h time. This is not something we think about conciously, i.e. we don’t convert from one to he other but rather parallel process. [/QUOTE] It’s the same in Norway. Printed schedules, private notes, radio and TV presenters, 24 hour time. It is 19 o’clock, here is the news." Casual conversation, often even when you’re looking at something like the TV-listings, 12 hour time. “According to the listing, the movie starts at eight.” There’s never any am/pm, if it’s not clear one says “six in the morning” or “six in the evening/eighteen zero zero”. There’s also no “Fifteen hundred”, except in the military. When using 24 hour time orally 20:40 is “twenty forty”, and using 12 hour time, ten past half nine. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/24 "2006-09-03T09:09:24Z")
Okay, thanks for your responses…now that I think of it, when I set my cell phone’s settings for a twelve hour clock, the other option was “24 hour clock”. The 24 hour clock is _never_ used in the US except in the military, I guess (like I know, I’m not in the military…it just sounds like something they say in war movies). Anyway, I guess I’ll teach my kids am and pm. If they ever travel to an English speaking country, they’ll know what any signs written in the 24 hour format mean, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/25 "2006-09-03T09:13:31Z")
This reminds me of the opening words of Orwell’s _1984_: It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen… (Clocks with bells use the 12 hour format exclusively, btw - you’ll hear one stroke at 13:00). ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/26 "2006-09-03T11:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=Schnitte] This reminds me of the opening words of Orwell’s _1984_: It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen… (Clocks with bells use the 12 hour format exclusively, btw - you’ll hear one stroke at 13:00). [/QUOTE] I almost made a reference to that in the OP, but I decided it would be pretentious. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/27 "2006-09-03T20:01:46Z")
Israel – 12 hour clock (using context designators – “In the morning”, “around noon”, “after noon”, “in the evening”, “at night” and even “before morning” for the wee hours) for verbal communication. Almost anything written (even most handwritten "shop is open… " signs) is in 24-hour format, however. [aside]Geeks like me use true military time (YYYY-MM-DD HH24-MI-SS) for coding dates. It just makes sorting dates in ones code as simple as sorting their string representation! [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/28 "2006-09-03T22:22:54Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Y\*“The next train to depart from platform 2 is the fourteen-oh-seven service for London Liverpool Street…”\* [/QUOTE] \ Odd, I thought one of the differences between American English and British English was that word ‘oh’. That is, a time like 9:07 would be pronounced by an American as “nine oh seven” and by a Britisher as “nine-seven”. That impression is mainly from books, probably dated ones like Agatha Christies, etc. So is that still common usage, or has it changed? \ ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/29 "2006-09-03T22:25:38Z")
It’s mostly the traditional am/pm split here, although some times, such as plane departure and arrival times, are quoted in the 24 hour clock. The term ‘military time’ isn’t used. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096/30 "2006-09-04T04:31:23Z")
In Japanese they use both formats. They tend to use the 12 hour format in conversations, especially causual ones among families and friends. For business, we tend to use the 24 hour format, especially in written forms (emails, invitations, train schedules, etc.) although we’ll more often use the 12 hour verbally. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-military-time-for-non-us-english-speakers/371096.md?page=1)