What does ” a quarter of 10 ” mean to you ? A friend asked me this question recently and I thought the answer was obvious : It means 15 moment before 10 o’clock . But there are patently many people who find this expression perplexing or have never learn of it . Why do some of us say “ a quarter of ” instead of “ a poop to ” or “ a quarter before ” ?
My first thought was that this “ of ” must be a holdover from some erstwhile construction that has fallen out of utilisation , perhaps related to phrases like “ of the clock ” which finally was shortened to “ o’clock . ” But according to theOxford English Dictionary , the “ stern of ” type of time - secern date to 1817 , which is not all that long ago in language chronicle terms ( “ of the clock ” dates all the way back to Chaucer ) . The first citation ( “ At 15 minute of 10 a.m … . ” ) is from an Indiana daybook , and the construction looks like chiefly American , though it is also found in Scottish and Irish English .
It may have originated with the idiomatic expression type “ It wants / lacks a after part of 10 . ” This manner of telling prison term hold up way back and was used in both England and the U.S. Here , from the Antiquarian Horological Society , is anexampleof someone complain about the inaccuracy of public pin grass in London in 1692 :
The use of " it want of " or " it miss of " in account on prison term was usual into the 19thcentury , and it ’s likely that the “ of ” grammatical construction some of us usage today is just a shortening of that phrase eccentric . But who shortened it ? Which of us apply it ? And why ?
alas , this question was not a part of theHarvard Dialect sight , but it ’s my sentiency from expect at online discussions of the building and other anecdotal experience that “ a twenty-five percent of ” is common in the Northeast and the Midwest , and rare in the South and West . There do seem to be plenty of masses all over who have never heard it ( or who cogitate of it as a “ grannie ” phrase ) .
As with most dialect features , it can be hard to nail why something hangs on in one home and not others . In British English they use " half - ten ' to mean 10:30 . In Scotland , “ back of 10 ” means a spot past 10 — anywhere from 10:05 to 10:15 . When we learn to tell time , we also have to learn the linguistic oddity of how we blab out about time . The “ of ” construction is a oddity that I take place to peck up . What about you ? Do you use “ a poop of ” ( or “ five of ” or “ 10 of ” … ) when talking about time ?
