Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Like those apocryphal Eskimos with their endless names for snow, Frank Jacobs reports that the famously punctual Germans have four different ways to tell time:

In a large part of north-western Germany, from the Danish to the French border, the preferred option is viertel nach zehn (‘quarter after ten’)….In what used to be East Germany, the same clock time is referenced as viertel elf (‘quarter eleven’)….An option limited to German-speaking Switzerland is to call this particular time viertel ab zehn (‘quarter from ten’)….Another national Option is viertel über zehn (‘quarter over ten’), used only in central parts of Austria.

Wait a second. Shouldn’t there be five ways to say this? What about the German version of “ten fifteen”? Doesn’t anyone use that? After all, what do they do when it’s 10:12 and there’s no handy “quarter” or “half” shortcut to use? 

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate