# What's a "poetic" time for a clock?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 1, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049 "2017-01-01T15:35:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/1 "2017-01-01T15:35:05Z")
We have a clock in our living room that is broken. It looks really nice so we like having it; it’s just that we haven’t gotten around to taking it to get fixed.
What a good time to set it to? Noon is boring. Some one suggested 5:00 because “it’s always 5:00 somewhere.”
Any other meaningful, artsy, or \_\_\_\_\_ ideas?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/2 "2017-01-01T15:43:27Z")
20:20. (Twenty minutes after eight.)
Or 22:10. (Ten after ten.)
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### Author:  [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/3 "2017-01-01T15:49:33Z")
Obviously 4:20.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/4 "2017-01-01T15:57:09Z")
Yeah, 8:20 (or 3:40) looks like a mustache, so put some googly eyes just under 11 and 1 and you’ll have a real clock “face.”
Hey, I just got up. Long night, y’know.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/5 "2017-01-01T16:40:33Z")
6:30. hands down
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### Author:  [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/6 "2017-01-01T16:57:16Z")
I always liked ten til two.
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/7 "2017-01-01T17:01:10Z")
I have read that clocks on display are most often set to 10:10 because it’s felt to be the most aesthetically pleasing looking display.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/8 "2017-01-01T17:01:42Z")
Set it to the longest string of consecutive numbers, 12:34:56.
Oh. That kind of clock… never mind.
Dennis
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### Author:  [@Mr.Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Me)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/9 "2017-01-01T17:25:37Z")
3:34:30
aka
[25 or 6 to 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUAYeN3Rp2E)
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/10 "2017-01-01T17:42:23Z")
> [@Quimby](#):
>
> I have read that clocks on display are most often set to 10:10 because it’s felt to be the most aesthetically pleasing looking display.
Additionally, 8:20 frames the manufacturer’s name. Plus, it’s the time McKinley was assassinated by Mr. Timex.
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> Set it to the longest string of consecutive numbers, 12:34:56.
>
> Oh. That kind of clock… never mind.
>
> Dennis
When that kind of clock gets to 10:01 [|0:0|], the digital man inside is looking out at you (I freaked out someone a few months back pointing this out 😃 ).
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### Author:  [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/11 "2017-01-01T17:42:45Z")
> [@Quimby](#):
>
> I have read that clocks on display are most often set to 10:10 because it’s felt to be the most aesthetically pleasing looking display.
There is much truth to what you read in my experience. I have directly observed that a majority of advertisements involving analog clocks display the hour hand at 10 and the minute hand at 2 (10 past the hour, i.e. 10:10) since there is a slight resemblance to a smile mouth. This seems to be a common marketing ploy.
Digital clocks in advertisements commonly display 12:00 (noon or midnight) for some reason.
Poetic time? I’ll go with 4:20 as a personal choice.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/12 "2017-01-01T17:48:04Z")
> [@Mr.Me](#):
>
> 3:34:30
> aka
> [25 or 6 to 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUAYeN3Rp2E)
I see this as the winner.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/13 "2017-01-01T18:08:54Z")
12:34. But if you want a visual statement more than a chronological one, 6:00 or 1:50.
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### Author:  [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/14 "2017-01-01T19:12:03Z")
Are you dentist? If so, then 2:30.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/15 "2017-01-01T19:24:28Z")
Set it according to the [Doomsday Clock.](http://thebulletin.org/timeline)
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### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/16 "2017-01-01T20:15:53Z")
Ten to three.
Do hares come out about the corn?
Oh, is the water sweet and cool,
Gentle and brown, above the pool?
And laughs the immortal river still
Under the mill, under the mill?
Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain? . . . oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?
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### Author:  [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/17 "2017-01-01T20:53:17Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#):
>
> Set it according to the [Doomsday Clock.](http://thebulletin.org/timeline)
Boy, _that_ might get scary in 2017.
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### Author:  [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/18 "2017-01-01T21:10:30Z")
Set it to the time you were born.
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### Author:  [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/19 "2017-01-02T15:06:56Z")
> [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](#):
>
> I always liked ten til two.
That is always fun to say.
I think I will save all of these and continually change the clock to different times. We can pretend it works!
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-poetic-time-for-a-clock/776049/20 "2017-01-02T15:49:47Z")
Since you are concerned about appearances, meaning visitors to you house, establish a leitmotiv of inviting all visitors to set your clock hands to any time they wish. Dinner guests will accept your invitations just to reset your clock, no matter how boring you might be otherwise. If word gets around, maybe even the 6 oclock news will send over a carmera crew to film a feature on the people whose clock can be reset. If you become too popular, some local antique stores might even donate a couple of old broken clocks to your living room, just to keep the line moving. Passers-by will stop at your house to set your clock. Some day there might even be a museum of broken clocks in your village, putting it on the map, like those towns in Kansas with big balls of string.
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