# "Half past kissing time, time to kiss again": How widespread? Other language equivalents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849 "2018-06-27T16:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/1 "2018-06-27T16:55:43Z")
When you want to give an affectionate answer to a kid’s question “What time is it?”–or to answer when he’s boring you silly by repeating the question incessantly–sometimes you say “half past kissing time, time to kiss again.” I suggested that in a friendly manner to a mother answering her kid’s question, and she looked at me like I was from the moon. 1. She might have been a 'ferner. Don’t most Americans know it? 2. I also remember the junior-high-school comeback “half past the cow’s ass, quarter to his balls.” Isn’t there a nice one, sayable by parents, with something “…a freckle,…?” 3. Anyone know any similar non-English (or British only) responses? ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/2 "2018-06-27T16:59:20Z")
We used that phrase in Canada (specifically rural Ontario) when I was growing up. The variant you’re thinking of is “half past a freckle, quarter to a hair,” which was also common. I never heard the cow’s ass/balls variant, which is surprising because we were a farming community. I will, however, point out its anatomical incorrectness: cows are females and hence don’t have balls. ---
**Author:** ![Goodnight-Loving](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc29f/32.png) [@Goodnight-Loving](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goodnight-Loving)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/3 "2018-06-27T17:00:59Z")
Two hairs past a freckle…said while looking at one’s non-watch-bearing wrist. People don’t wear watches as much these days (due to cellphones) so that particular pantomime will probably fade further. I’d never heard the kissing one. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/4 "2018-06-27T17:02:08Z")
> [@Goodnight-Loving](#): > > … > > I’d never heard the kissing one. Where’'d you grow up? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/5 "2018-06-27T17:04:24Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > When you want to give an affectionate answer to a kid’s question “What time is it?”–or to answer when he’s boring you silly by repeating the question incessantly–sometimes you say “half past kissing time, time to kiss again.” > > I suggested that in a friendly manner to a mother answering her kid’s question, and she looked at me like I was from the moon. > > 1. She might have been a 'ferner. Don’t most Americans know it? > > 2. I also remember the junior-high-school comeback “half past the cow’s ass, quarter to his balls.” Isn’t there a nice one, sayable by parents, with something “…a freckle,…?” > > 3. Anyone know any similar non-English (or British only) responses? I’m afraid I’d look at you as if you were from the moon, too. I’ve never heard the kissing thing. Or the one about the cow’s ass, either.\* As for the “freckle” thing, _that_ one I know. If someone asks you the time, you look at your wrist as if looking at your wrist watch. Only, of course, you don’t have one\*\*, so you say the time is “a hair past a freckle”. You do, of course, have hair there. And maybe a freckle. - It does, perhaps, explain the name of a store not far from here at Hampton Beach, NH. It’s a leather store called “The Cow’s Ass”. It doesn’t _have_ to be related to your time-telling whimsy, but it possibly explains it. \*\* If you’re actually wearing a wristwatch, of course, this response makes no sense. You’ll have to modify your response and talk about a cow’s ass, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/6 "2018-06-27T17:13:10Z")
Interesting. May I ask that posters, if they don’t mind, note if they are American-raised? I’m surprised that “everyone” doesn’t know it. Maybe it’s an East Coast thing. ETA: Reminds me of another favorite inquiry, finding out from my wife Things They Say in Brooklyn Only. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/7 "2018-06-27T17:13:22Z")
We didn’t use a cow’s hindquarters. It was a horse’s. We also did the half past a freckle as a sarcastic answer when they could see you didn’t have a watch. Never heard the kissing one. Born and bred West Virginian, but spent all of my summers in Chicago growing up. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/8 "2018-06-27T17:15:29Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/9 "2018-06-27T17:17:37Z")
What the hell: I, OP, officially allow the hijack:\*\* things your mother (or “they”) say about freckles.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/10 "2018-06-27T17:17:40Z")
Never heard the kissing one. For us it was half past the monkey’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/11 "2018-06-27T17:17:50Z")
Cleveland born and bred, with roots in western PA. I’ve never heard the kissing one. I have heard the freckle one and the ass/balls one, but I think the animal for the latter was a monkey, not a cow or a horse. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/12 "2018-06-27T17:18:10Z")
I have a vague memory that I might have heard the kissing thing before, but it must have been decades ago and it certainly was not common. Perhaps I heard an older relative say it once or twice. I’m sure I’ve never said it myself. I was born in Chicago in the mid 1950s. Why do you think that it would be universally known? Have you ever heard it in mainstream media? ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/13 "2018-06-27T17:19:16Z")
I vaguely recall the hair/freckle thing, as well as the ass/balls bit. Never heard the kissing thing at all (born and raised in rural South Dakota). ETA: on further review, it was definitely “half past a monkey’s ass, quarter to his balls”! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/14 "2018-06-27T17:20:52Z")
> [@markn+;21049298...](#): > > Why do you think that it would be universally known? Have you ever heard it in mainstream media? Oh, I don’t know, but I remember the (valid) line somewhere in _Portnoy’s Complaint_ that for years he always that “spatula” was a Yiddish word. FTR, for years I thought, based on table-talk, that “camp” meant only one thing, “concentration camp.” Also, perhaps feeling gooey, that the “kissing time” expression is so nice I _like_ to think it should be universal. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/15 "2018-06-27T17:23:46Z")
Never heard of it. I’ve lived on both coasts. Is this midwestern? It does seem like an unusual expression. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/16 "2018-06-27T17:26:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Cleveland born and bred, with roots in western PA. I’ve never heard the kissing one. I have heard the freckle one and the ass/balls one, but I think the animal for the latter was a monkey, not a cow or a horse. I grew up in northern WV and my experience was the same. Never heard the kissing one. Heard the freckle one and the animal was a monkey in that one. Northern WV is very similar culturally to western PA. We even say yinz on occasion, just like the Pittsburghers. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/17 "2018-06-27T17:26:50Z")
Score so far: 1 American, me. 1 Canadian, **D18** … ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/18 "2018-06-27T17:27:50Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > … > > Northern WV is very similar culturally to western PA. We even say yinz on occasion, just like the Pittsburghers. 😕 “yinz”? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/19 "2018-06-27T17:28:38Z")
Never heard of it, but I am young compared to a lot of people on this board. Maybe generational? ETA: Be careful out there. These days that phrase could be construed as sexual harassment. I can only image an older person saying it, so they may be able to get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849/20 "2018-06-27T17:28:51Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I grew up in northern WV and my experience was the same. Never heard the kissing one. Heard the freckle one and the animal was a monkey in that one. > > Northern WV is very similar culturally to western PA. We even say yinz on occasion, just like the Pittsburghers. Whereabouts? I’m from Mo’town. Grew up in the mountains though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-past-kissing-time-time-to-kiss-again-how-widespread-other-language-equivalents/816849.md?page=2)