AEE 2674: It's All Ears English O'clock

This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 2674. It's All Ears English O'Clock. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English?

We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

Do you know why native speakers use the phrase o'clock when they talk about time? Today, find out where it comes from, how relevant it is today and get some natural expressions to connect around time in your daily life.

Hey, Michelle. How's it going today? Hey, Lindsay. I'm doing well. Lindsay, what time do you normally wake up in the morning? Somewhere between 645 and 725.

Very specific. I know. Very specific. Yeah, that is specific. Yeah, for me... It really depends. But usually my daughter comes into bed with us and then it really, it's just all, Dan makes fun of me because he's like, wait, you don't even set an alarm.

And why would I need to? I have two people who are very keen on waking me up. Yes, I have human alarm clocks in there. Yes. So, but yeah, so today, so when we talk about time, we often say a clock after an exact hour, like 12 o'clock, one o'clock, five o'clock.

Um, how do you spell this, Lindsay? It's kind of weird. It's, it's, it feels old fashioned to me, right? Yeah. So it's O apostrophe clock, C L O C K. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. If you think of it, it's, it's, it's a funny little contraction. And, um, you know, we, Lindsay, do you generally say a clock? Yeah. um that's a good question i think i do maybe half the time maybe it's like 50 50 for me three o'clock or three yeah yeah i think yeah i don't know i have to pay attention really to if i do it or not but i always there are some times when i hear someone say a clock and it like something about the way the words sound the clock it's like it always stands out to me yeah i don't know why i

I think I say maybe like a.m. or p.m. I will tend to say a.m. more than p.m. because if something's happening like early in the morning, it's 2 a.m. Why are we up right now? Right. Right.

I don't say p.m. very much because it's not very notable if I'm up at 2 p.m. Right. Right. So about 2 a.m. Oh, my gosh. It's so late. right yeah exactly that'd be an interesting follow-up actually when do we use am and pm and how and when it makes more sense so yeah so but we looked into it an article came up um and we looked into the origin to understand why do we say a clock um so today we're sharing why we say a clock and then we're going to give you some fun idioms using this word so this is going to be a

Yeah. So in the article, we, so we found again, do we say the article title yet? No, we didn't yet. Right. We didn't, but we also want to remind you guys to hit the follow button.

Yes. I'm one step ahead here. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you already is too far ahead. No, I'm too far ahead. Here we go. Too far. Too far. Like Michelle said, please hit the follow button.

Make sure you are following the show. When you do that, our show drops into your listening queue and Apple podcasts, and you will not miss a beat. You will not miss a single episode. Right.

Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, we found the answer in a Huffington Post article. So this was by Caroline Bologna, and it was called Why Do We Say A Clock When Telling Time?

Let me just get the date for this. It was March 5th, 2026. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, let's, let's talk about this today. Very interesting stuff. So in the article, what they share is that, so after mechanical clocks were invented, um, you know, people actually would say of the clock.

Yeah. That makes sense. Right. Yeah. I kind of figured that's what it was. Right. Cause it's sort of intuitive, but we can clarify this here today. Right.

So it's like saying that was the time according to the clock and Instead of according to what, Michelle? What were they using before? Like church bells or the sun or something like that.

Yeah. So of the clock became of clock. And that became shortened further to o'clock. Yeah. Interesting. And we're still saying it today. But we don't say o'clock.

We say o'clock. O'clock. A clock. Yeah. It's a very different sound. It's more of a schwa sound. A clock. Yeah. A clock. 12 o'clock. Yeah. And, you know, the article also mentioned that it had to deal with sounds, right?

It became natural because with pronunciation, I mean, to say of, then clock means, if you think about it, moving from the front all the way to the back of your mouth, the F sound to the cluh. sounds of, of clock, of clock, of clock, of clock. Right. So it's really like that.

If you think about it, it's kind of like just connected speech and it became naturally shortened, I guess. Um, it's just so much easier to say a clock than of clock. Oh, for sure. Yeah.

We like to say what's easy. Um, I think most languages probably tend toward that direction. Let's say what builds connection. Let's say what we understand and what we hear.

Um, so a clock, not o'clock, not of the clock. Um, So when do we say a clock, Michelle? Yeah. Well, we say when the hour is exact, right? So we're not going to say 5.30 o'clock ever.

We would say 5 o'clock, 7 o'clock, 11 o'clock, right? Never 11.15 o'clock. It's not going to – it has to be when the hour is exact, when it's even, no added minutes. And there are additional things we can say to make sure we're being clear that it's right on the dot.

Yeah. Right? So that is actually one of them. And we'll just skip ahead to that one. We can say on the dot. We don't need a clock here also, right? We don't say on the dot o'clock.

Or I guess you could say five o'clock on the dot. You could say that. I would say that, wouldn't you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess you could say, yeah, 7 o'clock on the dot, right?

But you also don't need it. So you could say something like, the bus arrives every morning at 7 on the dot. I could have said 7 o'clock on the dot, but it's a mouthful. It's a mouthful.

Do you really need to say all those things, right? Unless you're really emphasizing, don't miss the bus, right? 7 o'clock AM on the dot. You could. You could say that.

Or class starts at 10 on the dot. So on the dot is one thing we say. What else could we say? Sharp. This makes me think of my dad. I think he says this.

So also to emphasize, it's the exact time to do something. This is really about when you want to be somewhere on time or tell something that something is starting on time. I mean, because sometimes things like a wedding or, you know, just different places. I mean, this goes back to many conversations we've had about time and when things actually start.

Um, yeah, that we might, uh, say a time, but people really know that it's actually a little later. So you might want to use sharp to actually tell them like, no, like this is, this is actually the time it's starting. So yeah. And if, and very importantly, if you hear that, if you hear the dinner starts at, but like dinner is a good example.

When you host a dinner party, um, I mean, you should try to be on time. But when you host – sorry, when you attend someone's party at their house, it might – if it's not dinner, it might be okay to arrive a little late, right? Most people don't arrive to non-dinner parties right on time.

But if you hear this event starts at 5 o'clock sharp, be there at like 4.59 or 4.58, right, is my recommendation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So for example, the meeting starts at two o'clock sharp, or our train leaves at three o'clock sharp.

So it's kind of like, don't mess around. Like you actually, you gotta really be mindful here. Totally. Yeah. And that really gets into cultural differences and things.

But trains do not wait for culture. Yeah. Trains just run. I don't know. I mean, I know in Japan, all the trains ran right on schedule. But even in the US, I mean, the trains run.

Well, sometimes they're late, I guess. But if you buy a ticket for like an 1120 train, like it's probably going to start rolling at 1120, you know, and you have no choice. There's no negotiating with the train. Yeah, exactly.

That's the thing. It's like whether it's going to leave early or late or on. I mean, whether it's going to leave on time or late. Yeah. There's no negotiating with the train, so you just have to be prepared for things like that.

It's better to be sitting on the train than running after it. Totally agree. Like they do in the movies. Remember with, what was it? A League of Their Own, where they run and somehow they jump on.

I think it's very unrealistic. Okay, what else, Michelle, do we need to know? So, yeah. A Clock... is usually optional, right? That's the thing. That's what's interesting here.

Because if the meaning is clear, we can just drop it all together. So dinner is at six o'clock. It's almost like a... I don't even know why we say it because you can't just say dinner is at six.

I just think it's kind of, it comes out. It either comes out when you're a speaker or it's just pretty natural or it's not in the moment. It's really, yeah, it is pretty optional. It's interesting.

But of course, if minutes are added, we, and we said this before, we drop the o'clock, right? So 102 is 102, 205, 205 we never say 205 o'clock like we said yeah okay exactly and then when the minutes are usually between 01 and 09 americans usually say oh for the zero so like you don't really say oh it's 102 now right right 102

yes that's interesting yeah um yeah okay what else also like for 5 30 you can also say i mean well actually to me it sounds more british to say half past five but you people people would say you don't think so i know i feel like i never say that i don't know

Okay, I'm not going to try to teach British English because I'm not British. But I thought that they said half five, but I'm not sure if that's half past five or half past four. Actually, I'm not sure. Guys, you got to ask someone who's British.

I don't really know. But half past five for me is pretty American, I think. I mean, I say it. Yeah. I don't know. I don't say that one, but I would do this.

Instead of 345, I might say quarter to four. Yes, quarter to four. Yes. Yeah. But I'm still more likely to say, you know, I think in American English, there's a good chance that people are just saying the numbers, but you do have options.

Yeah. Maybe it's a little quaint now. I mean, you could even say quarter past four. I don't hear that as much anymore, but I feel like I used to hear that a lot when I was a kid.

Like my mom used to say that. Quarter past four. Another thing you might hear is like quarter to. Quarter to four. Quarter to four. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or even if you know what hour, like if you already know what hour, somebody might just drop that and say like...

Oh, like, yeah, the bus is coming at quarter two, right? If you know, like, oh, the bus usually comes at, you know, if it's known the hour, you might just say, oh, at quarter two. And then your pronunciation has to change a little bit because it has to take up that space to finish the thought quarter two, period. Yeah.

That's a ninja tip, Michelle. Very interesting. It's a C2 level tip. I love it. All right, good stuff. All right. So are there any expressions with a clock?

I mean, we've talked about when we use it, when we can drop it, but do we have any actual idiomatic expressions? Yes. Oh, yeah, of course. So it's something a clock.

So an enthusiastic or cheesy way to say it's time to do some things. So it's usually related to food or drinks. I think we may have talked about this a little bit, but this isn't necessarily super common in everyday speech, but you might see it more on social media or I mean, you might say it's coffee o'clock. It's beer o'clock or something by the time you leave work at five o'clock, right?

Yeah, it's beer o'clock. It's wine o'clock. Yeah, it's a little bit maybe was trendy, is trendy. I don't know. It sort of depends on your personality.

If you're this person that just wants to celebrate and just consume that kind of thing, that's what you do. So you might say that, right? Maybe you're inviting colleagues out for a drink after work, right? Yeah.

Yep. And then this one is very common. I mean, you'll see... You'll see this. You'll see it on shirts. You'll see, you know, it's five o'clock somewhere.

So this is a joking way to say that it's okay to have a beer or another kind of alcoholic drink at any time of day because it's five o'clock somewhere in the world. Right, Michelle? Right. Which is and what's what's why do we say five o'clock?

Why not? You know, eight o'clock or three. Most people think of the typical work days, nine to five. Yeah. And people are getting out of work going to happy hour.

Happy hour often starts at five. All right. So are you ordering wine with lunch? Hey, it's five o'clock somewhere. So are you saying yes or no? Are you saying yes?

Yes. Yes. I'm saying yes. So yeah, this is kind of a pro drinking thing to say. Yeah. Just be careful maybe who you're around. If you're having lunch with your boss, maybe avoid that.

I don't know. You're letting loose a bit here. right yes yes exactly exactly um and then we'll do uh we have just like oh yeah one or two more so i like this one five o'clock shadow yeah i forgot about these expressions that's so fun i know aren't these fun yeah so this is when a man has short facial hair that grows in over the day so they shave in the morning and then by 5 p.m some some men have i guess a little bit of fuzz by five o'clock right yeah Yeah.

Dan just has a full on beard all the time. So he doesn't get a five o'clock shadow. But yeah, you do see it right now. Yes. Yeah, exactly. So that five o'clock shadow gives him a rugged look.

Right. Or even if I shave, I still get a five o'clock shadow. Yeah. So that's just that's really a men's thing to say. And then another phrase is around the clock.

Yeah. So I mean I have some friends who are nurses and they work – they had to put in their – pay their dues and work the night shift or even sometimes they work like four days a week but they work almost around the clock. Not exactly but almost around the clock like 10-hour days or something. Crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So ER nurses and doctors work around the clock, or you could say we worked around the clock to finish the project in time. So yeah, continuously, all day, all night.

You know, it's somewhat of an exaggeration, but it's just many hours. It doesn't mean you necessarily worked 12 hours, but it feels like you did, right? Or it could actually literally with ER doctors, they probably do work 12 hours straight. Yeah.

Yep. Okay. Role play time, Michelle. We have thrown out a lot here for our listeners today. Yes. So let's bring it into one conversation. Bring it in.

We have a flight coming up here. So we'll be flying together. All right. What time does our flight leave? Oh, it leaves at 10 o'clock sharp. So we can't be late.

Okay. So we should leave at seven on the dot then. Agreed. And what time do we land? We'll get there around four o'clock. Wow, that's a long day. I feel like we've been traveling around the clock.

And that's how I can feel. If you fly to especially from the US and fly to Asia, or even like Eastern Europe, it can feel so long. yeah isolated over here in some ways you know but no it's yeah it's true um yeah i always think it would be great to live in europe and just be able to try yeah something like that and i mean that's how when i you know when people when a lot of americans they study abroad yeah um especially like in europe and then they every weekend they try and go somewhere on a short flight it's awesome that's what i did yeah i studied in paris and every i got one of those train tickets i don't know if they do that anymore the euro

star train ticket and then i just sort of like every weekend i would go to the station and let's go to switzerland let's go to italy like it was just so easy i miss those times yeah i'm living in the states i mean you you know it's a big flight especially from denver versus the east coast actually it makes a big difference i've noticed since i moved to denver it's so it's that extra four hours across the country if you come from europe you know what i mean Like, you know, Paris to New York is not terrible, but you add an extra four hours. Paris to Denver. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, let's go through the role play, Michelle. Shall we? All right. So you said, what time does our flight leave?

And I said, it leaves at 10 o'clock sharp. Yeah. And then I said, okay, so we should leave at seven on the dot then. Now we're trying to be very precise because we're going to the airport.

You don't want to mess around with being late at the airport. No. And then you said, what time do we land? And I said, we'll get there around four o'clock.

And then I said, wow, it's a long day. I feel like we've been traveling around the clock. Okay. All right. Michelle, what's another episode our listeners could check out now if they like learning about time?

Time matters. Yeah. Well, this is going way back, but we definitely want to highlight it. It was episode 1478. That was, it's about time. I remember this using a clock to give direction.

So we talked about how to use a clock to share where things are located. And remember this Lindsay at your three o'clock at your two o'clock. Yeah. I remember that.

I mean, the best way to find that episode guys, honestly would be to go to the app and Go to the app, download it for free, allersenglish.com slash app, and then hit the search bar at the very top of the episode list. Type in 1478. Otherwise, it's going to take you too long to scroll down.

Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't scroll. Don't scroll. That's a lot. Exactly. Michelle, what's our takeaway today? Oh, man. Well, this was really interesting.

I mean, we learned a little bit about the origin of, you know, O'Clock and what it means and how it evolved. And then we learned a lot of content, a lot of ways that it just, you know, is used, not only, you know, literally talking about time, but also, you know, just with expression. So really, really useful, very common, all of these. Yeah.

A lot of cultural expressions that just are so natural and important to know. Um, so good episode today, Michelle. Great one. We'll talk to you very soon.

Yeah. All right. All right. Bye Lindsay. Take care. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz.

Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.