# Who can't tell time on an analog clock? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954 "2018-11-22T19:43:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/61 "2018-11-26T22:28:17Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > One didn’t need to do the “subtract from 10” thing in North America. It looks like that author is in New Zealand on a different system. Of course, down here in the Southern Hemisphere, you have to spin the rotary dial the other way as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/62 "2018-11-26T22:51:30Z")
> [@wanderer2575](#): > > Don’t expect them to understand what “25 or 6 to 4” means. No one ever understood what that meant. No normal person would ever say “26 to 4” when they meant 3:34. And they certainly wouldn’t give a range like that. There’s a reason everyone thinks it’s a secret reference to drugs or something. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/63 "2018-11-26T23:25:26Z")
Being able to read analogue clocks is a skill that formerly needed to be learned, but I can understand if such clocks become passé. Just like slipsticks, abaci, cursive writing, and fake IDs for buying Playboy did. If technology crashes bad enough, we’ll revive these tools quickly enough. People will continue to master concepts and technology as required for their modern living. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/64 "2018-11-26T23:27:36Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > No normal person would ever say “26 to 4” when they meant 3:34. And they certainly wouldn’t give a range like that. Normality is overrated. And at least 3 guys on my dorm floor in college would tell time exactly like that. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/65 "2018-11-26T23:48:52Z")
There are only two things that I think will really be missed from learning about analog clocks: The use of the clock face to indicate relative directions, and the concept of rotation being “clockwise” or “counterclockwise”. Come up with new ways to teach those, or new concepts to replace them, and we should be fine. And for the record, I not only still know how to use a slide rule, I’ve used one to take tests. I’m a bit slow on one, because I don’t use them very often, but I can still do multiplication, division, trig functions, powers, roots, exponentials, and logs. And when I’m not using a slide rule, I’m using an RPN calculator. EDIT: Oh, and I don’t expect modern kids to know what “25 or 6 to 4” means, but then, I don’t expect anyone to understand that. Including the writers of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/66 "2018-11-27T00:27:19Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Normality is overrated. And at least 3 guys on my dorm floor in college would tell time exactly like that. As a joke, or in all seriousness? Sometimes I’ll give lengths in light-nanoseconds, or fuel efficiency in square millimeters, but only if I’m having a bit of fun with geeky friends. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/67 "2018-11-27T00:36:51Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > One didn’t need to do the “subtract from 10” thing in North America. It looks like that author is in New Zealand on a different system. > > Here, you tap once for one, twice for two…up to 10 times for zero. I used to do it all the time. I don’t recall if it worked on payphones though, without putting money in, I mean. Our very old pay phones disconnected the microphone until you paid. You could dial, connect, and listen: you didn’t need to tap. Some of our not-so-old thrid-party private pay phones had a dial-disconnect. Some of those had a _special hook-release damper_ that made the hook-release come up so slowly that you couldn’t tap. But you would also sometimes see dial locks: an ordinary key lock fitted to the dial on an otherwise ordinary phone. Those you could tap to dial. My dad removed the (flip digit) digital clock from the dining room, to force use to use the analog clock instead of running to the other room to read the time. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/68 "2018-11-27T00:37:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Come up with new ways to teach those, or new concepts to replace them, and we should be fine. Left-handed and right-handed rotation. Gets the kids started earlier on understanding pseudovectors. And simplifies some concepts to boot: no more “righty-tighty, lefty-loosy” for screws; just teach that (most) screws are right-handed. Your thumb points to where you want the screw to go. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/69 "2018-11-27T01:28:10Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I imagine there are a few people even today who enjoy telling time with sundials, water clocks, and hourglasses, and more power to them! Or less power, as the case may be. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/70 "2018-11-27T01:47:51Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > As a joke, or in all seriousness? Sometimes I’ll give lengths in light-nanoseconds, or fuel efficiency in square millimeters, but only if I’m having a bit of fun with geeky friends. At least one, if not all 3, were dead serious. We were mega uber nerds at my school. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/71 "2018-11-27T03:15:08Z")
We have 3 analog clocks in the house. I think the advantage of analog wall clocks is they can be large enough to be read across the room but also decorative. Do young people have giant digital clocks in their living rooms? I imagine they would be kind of ugly. Having said that, I can’t imagine wearing a wristwatch now since my phone tells the time on the home screen. So to my way of thinking, watches are only worn out of fashion like jewelry but analog wall clocks are still practical. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/72 "2018-11-27T13:40:14Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > We have 3 analog clocks in the house. I think the advantage of analog wall clocks is they can be large enough to be read across the room but also decorative. Do young people have giant digital clocks in their living rooms? I imagine they would be kind of ugly. > > Having said that, I can’t imagine wearing a wristwatch now since my phone tells the time on the home screen. So to my way of thinking, watches are only worn out of fashion like jewelry but analog wall clocks are still practical. It’s easy to sneak a peek at your watch without even having to move your hands. You can even do it with both hands full. It’s kind of hard to pull out a phone and wake the screen without it being obvious, or check the time without a free hand. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/73 "2018-11-28T02:48:03Z")
Yeah, the main advantage of watches is that they are much faster to check. That’s why we got wristwatches despite pocket watches having already existed. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/74 "2018-11-28T12:13:19Z")
The sun and earth are analogue. An analogue watch/clock is more accurate than a digital arrangement and so are analogue gauges. Digital arrangements dumb things down. Whatever generation you are born into, it says a lot about you if you grasp the things of the previous generation (particularly the overlapping ones with yours); you concern yourself with the present, and you prepare for the future, as you develop the next generations to do the same. If you’re educated out the wazoo, yet care little for recently expired or expiring technology, you lack a little something-something. Analogue clocks exist; analogue clock-like tech exits, and the value of analogue is there. Feel free to ignore reality, but I’ll feel free to judge you for it. And get off my lawn. . ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/75 "2018-11-28T13:38:06Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > The sun and earth are analogue. > > An analogue watch/clock is more accurate than a digital arrangement and so are analogue gauges. > > Digital arrangements dumb things down. > > Whatever generation you are born into, it says a lot about you if you grasp the things of the previous generation (particularly the overlapping ones with yours); you concern yourself with the present, and you prepare for the future, as you develop the next generations to do the same. > > If you’re educated out the wazoo, yet care little for recently expired or expiring technology, you lack a little something-something. > > Analogue clocks exist; analogue clock-like tech exits, and the value of analogue is there. Feel free to ignore reality, but I’ll feel free to judge you for it. > > And get off my lawn. > > . Forget reading analog clocks - this post is a warning sign of oncoming dementia. Analog watches/clocks are no more or less accurate than a digital watch/clock. The accuracy has nothing to do with the display method - your watch/clock is 99% likely to be driven by a quartz crystal anyway. If anything, analog watches are on average less accurate than digital, since there’s a subset of analog watches that are purely mechanical and less accurate than quartz. And forcing new generations to hold onto obsolete technology out of nostalgia just holds back progress, it doesn’t assist it. There are excellent reasons why coal driven trains & steamships once ruled transportation, and excellent reasons why they practically no longer exist. Analog watches & clocks will continue to exist because they’re in many ways aesthetically superior to digital, but claiming they’re more accurate is ludicrous. And I’ll feel free to judge my fellow AARP-eligible citizens for thinking less of the younger generation for not wanting to waste their time on obsolete technology too. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/76 "2018-11-28T13:54:43Z")
A given analogue clock may be more or less accurate than a given digital clock; it is just a different kind of readout. It is true that a clock dial, a gauge, a slide rule, a pair of calipers, etc. by their nature give a better sense of the precision of the measurement involved than the corresponding digital versions. It would be difficult to read more than 3 digits or so on a slide rule, for example, and you would know whether they represented seconds or nanoseconds. I agree that an analogue clock face should be familiar to anyone who has seen a sundial or watched the shadows outside- at least, it would be if it were not for the extra one or two hands, chronograph, lunar calendar, tachymeter, etc., on there. I give you, however, the [digital sundial](http://www.fransmaes.nl/genk/en/gk-zw08-e.htm). ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/77 "2018-11-28T14:10:59Z")
And speaking of obsolete technology, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers had to create a [new section](https://www.asme.org/about-asme/news/asme-news/new-bpv-section-addresses-locomotive-requirements) of its Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code largely as the result of renewed interest in vintage steam locomotives. It may seem like an odd decision, but without proper codes in place, people who work with these antiques would quickly find themselves facing many of the same boiler-related safety hazards that led to ASME being founded in the first place. A bit different from analog clocks though, which generally don’t try to kill you when they’re made or operated incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/78 "2018-11-28T14:22:24Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > A bit different from analog clocks though, which generally don’t try to kill you when they’re made or operated incorrectly. Generally not, but, for instance, on Apollo 13 they ended up actually using that Omega Speedmaster to time a critical rocket burn. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/79 "2018-11-28T15:17:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **puzzlegal** , don’t ever ask an astrophysicist for his phone number, because he’ll tell you it’s “on the order of 10^7”. Heh, my husband gave me a similar answer last night. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Does that mean that the whole overpriced analog watches are going to be worthless in a couple of years? I like that idea. Don’t be silly, obsolete stuff often commands a premium. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I guess when talking about analog watches there is no point in asking if people still now how to use a slide rule, many will not even know what that is. Those were cool devices though. I recently showed the young-uns in my office how to use a slide rule. Two of them had never heard of the things, and thought I was going to give a presentation on something power-point related (slides, get it) but they found it interesting. > [@ekedolphin](#): > > …I just don’t see the appeal of analogue clocks when digital exists. I find them much easier to read. I had a digital clock in my bedroom for a while, but was late too often because 7:xx just didn’t look like it was as close to 8:00 as it was. So now I have an analog clock. Yes, I have set my phone to show analog time, too. > [@Chronos](#): > > There are only two things that I think will really be missed from learning about analog clocks: The use of the clock face to indicate relative directions, and the concept of rotation being “clockwise” or “counterclockwise”. Come up with new ways to teach those, or new concepts to replace them, and we should be fine… I was recently in a room and the people were asked to move “clockwise” and some asked whether that was clockwise looking up or down. I had to point out that there is a correct canonical answer to that question, because “clockwise” is based on the direction the shadow moves on a sundial. > [@BigT](#): > > Yeah, the main advantage of watches is that they are much faster to check. That’s why we got wristwatches despite pocket watches having already existed. This, too. And why the Apple watch and such will catch on. My wristwatch died, and I tried to get by with just my cell phone for a while. I felt incredibly rude interviewing people and having to put my phone on the table and repeatedly tapping it to bring up the time. It’s also easier to check my watch when running to catch my train than it is to fish a phone out of my pocket. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954/80 "2018-11-28T15:58:44Z")
My daughter’s 11 and I know for a fact they went over analog clocks in public school because she had homework for it. Looks like her schooling and some gaps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cant-tell-time-on-an-analog-clock/824954.md?page=5)