# What part of the year do you call Daylight Saving Time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517 "2015-12-15T11:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/21 "2015-12-17T01:28:41Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Voted 3rd option, because it’s not either of the first two. > > It’s the period between those two times that includes the Northern hemisphere summer months. In other words, it’s the first option? > [@Senegoid](#): > > What I want to know is: Why have Daylight Saving Time in the _summer_ when the days are already long (sun up earlier in the morning and down later in the evening), and we least need that extra evening hour? Why not have Daylight Saving Time in the _winter_ when an extra hour in the evening would actually be more helpful? I’ve always thought it should be the other way round. That way the sun set would be way more consistent, instead of the sun setting at 5 in winter and 8 in summer (or whatever the times are in your part of the world). > [@dracoi](#): > > I know that I’m totally wrong, but I basically use the term daylight savings time to mean the act of changing the clock. I know it’s supposed to apply to the whole part of the year until we reverse the change, but I just call both changes “daylight savings time.” (So, for example, I’ll say “Don’t forget it’s daylight savings time next week” or “I hate when daylight savings time makes me change the clocks.”) Maybe this is my problem. I’ve occasionally heard people refer to daylight savings coming up when it’s already daylight savings time. I interpreted them as thinking the behind part of the year was daylight savings, but they may have been referring to the act of changing the time. And to hell with it, I’m saying saving **s**. Sue me. ---
**Author:** ![newme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e0b2c6/32.png) [@newme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newme)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/22 "2015-12-17T01:42:25Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > What I want to know is: Why have Daylight Saving Time in the _summer_ when the days are already long (sun up earlier in the morning and down later in the evening), and we least need that extra evening hour? Why not have Daylight Saving Time in the _winter_ when an extra hour in the evening would actually be more helpful? Too many kids get hit by cars walking to school in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/23 "2015-12-17T01:48:24Z")
> [@HowSoonIsThen](#): > > In other words, it’s the first option? Yes. I see now that I misinterpreted the poll choices. I wasn’t trying to be pedantic. I actually thought that the options were both referring to the moment (time of year) that you change the clocks (put the clock forward/backward). ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/24 "2015-12-17T02:21:29Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Yes. I see now that I misinterpreted the poll choices. I wasn’t trying to be pedantic. I actually thought that the options were both referring to the moment (time of year) that you change the clocks (put the clock forward/backward). That’s certainly how the OP is written: > [@HowSoonIsThen](#): > > To me and 99% of the people I’ve met, daylight saving(s) time is the time of year you put your clocks forward 1 hour. I.e., 2 AM March 13, 2016. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/25 "2015-12-17T02:30:23Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Everyone is quick to point out that you spring forward and you fall back, but it’s the time when you sorta wheedle askance sideways that is the true DST. I can never remember which part of the year is the actual standard time, but at the next available opportunity I plan to wheedle askance and sideways! ---
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/26 "2015-12-17T03:22:15Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Yes. I see now that I misinterpreted the poll choices. I wasn’t trying to be pedantic. I actually thought that the options were both referring to the moment (time of year) that you change the clocks (put the clock forward/backward). Yeah, sorry, I could’ve worded it a lot better. It never occurred to me that anyone would think I meant the literal moment you put the clocks forwards/back. I guess that’s the problem when trying to determine if what you wrote makes sense. I already knew what I was trying to say, so didn’t see the ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/27 "2015-12-17T12:40:57Z")
Does anybody really know what time it is? ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/28 "2015-12-17T13:40:27Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > It’s not the time of year when you put the clock forward or back. It’s between them, starting when you set the clock forward in March. That’s why you’ll see east-coast times listed as “EDT” starting in March and ending in November, and “EST” starting in November and ending in March. Or in most of AZ, it’s always MST, regardless of what the rest of the country is doing. > > It is a little odd that standard time is shorter than savings time. This. Just gonna explain those abbreviations: EDT - Eastern Daylight Time EST - Eastern Standard Time MST - Mountain Standard Time (because Arizona doesn’t do Daylight Savings) So to be clear: I call it that because that is what it is officially called. The summer is when we are on Daylight Savings time, the winter is when we are not. And yes, I’m in the US. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/29 "2015-12-17T13:44:08Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > … but I just call both changes “daylight savings time.” (So, for example, I’ll say “Don’t forget it’s daylight savings time next week” or “I hate when daylight savings time makes me change the clocks.”) That second one is perfectly correct. The first one is only wrong half the time. 😉 I might well say “daylight savings happens this weekend”, but I’d be far more likely to just say “Spring forward”. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/30 "2015-12-17T13:44:19Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Does anybody really know what time it is? It’s twenty-five or -six to four. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517/31 "2015-12-17T13:58:53Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > What I want to know is: Why have Daylight Saving Time in the _summer_ when the days are already long (sun up earlier in the morning and down later in the evening), and we least need that extra evening hour? Why not have Daylight Saving Time in the _winter_ when an extra hour in the evening would actually be more helpful? The way it was explained to me was this: In the winter, it’s dark when you leave for work and it’s dark by the time you get home, so nobody cares when exactly the sun is up. In the summer, folks are used to being able to play baseball with their kids after work, before it gets dark. In WWII, they wanted folks to work long days in factories to help the war effort. In order to allow them to still do things after work and before it gets dark, they adjusted the clocks so the clock says 1pm when the sun says it is noon, so everybody gets an extra hour of sunlight after work. Could have achieved the same effect by asking employers to have folks work 8-to-4 instead of 9-to-5 (or whatever), but they went with changing the clocks. I understand that this conflicts with [more authoritative accounts](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1079/whats-the-purpose-of-daylight-saving-time) of why Daylight Savings Time happened, but it is what I was told [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-year-do-you-call-daylight-saving-time/740517.md?page=1)