Bottom of the hour

Lietchi
Lietchi Posts: 7,345 Member
in Chit-Chat

So my boyfriend asked me today if I'd ever heard of the expression 'bottom of the hour' and 'top of the hour'.

He's currently following a training course and the American instructor told the class that the break was until the bottom of the hour, but no one in the (all European) class seemed to know what he meant by that, so everyone was late returning after the break 😀

I have not heard of this expression , despite having lived in the US, watching American and UK series and films regularly and reading books in English. (Or perhaps I've heard it but it didn't register because it was unfamiliar.)

So I'm curious - my question to you is:

  • Do you know the expressions 'bottom of the hour' and 'top of the hour'?
  • Are you a native English speaker? If so, what country?
  • And how old are you?

Replies

  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,475 Member

    I'm a 51 year old from the US. I've heard both of those, albeit rarely and probably not for years. The most common use of it that I can recall is from morning news shows where they'd use the phrase to indicate a general timing of some recurring segment. Something like "coming up at the top of the hour, today's weather with Bob" or traffic report coming up at the bottom of every hour. It gives a non-exact time for an activity. Practically speaking, I'd consider the top of the hour to be the first 15 minutes and bottom of the hour the last 15 minutes.

    Seems like an odd use for something like announcing the time to take for a break.

  • yakkystuff
    yakkystuff Posts: 2,216 Member

    US, grew up with it, feels ubiquitous to me, use it often.

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 7,345 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48729920#Comment_48729920

    I'm confused now 😄 because that's exactly how my BF interpreted bottom of the hour and according to the instructor, he actually meant half past - bottom being when the minute hand is at the bottom?

    I'm going to guess that this expression is going to fade into oblivion with analog clocks becoming rarer and rarer!

  • Alinouveau2
    Alinouveau2 Posts: 6,781 Member

    52

    I've these expressions it they're not widely used

    I'm from English Canada so a native English speaker

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