[etni] Follow-up on responses on 5 1/2

From: David Reid <reidnomad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:34:44 +0200

Hello, ETNIers
First, I want to thank all the people who responded, most of them directly
to my email address, to my question as to whether the Israeli English
mistranslation of the time "5:30" to "five and a half" had become
acceptable, perhaps as slang, anywhere in America. So many replied (all
with a resounding "no") that I would not have time to thank each one
personally. I hope my thanks here will be accepted.
The only slightly dissenting voice was from one person who said that
although Americans don't say it, Brits do. However, my British and Canadian
friends say that this is not the case as far as they know, and that the
person who said this may be getting mixed up with the expression "half six"
or, confusingly, "half five" for the same time (different regions) in
British English. But my British source inserted the caveat that there are
so many regionalisms  in England and such a fast turnover of slang amongst
British youth that it could possibly exist in some corner of Britain. So,
although the Queen will never say it, my British friend could not
categorically rule out its existence. As I believe most of the responses to
my question came from Americans, I would ask any native speakers of British
English whether they had heard this anywhere by a native British English
speaker.

My thanks in advance.
David Reid


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[etni] Follow-up on responses on 5 1/2

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