Half past

Does half six in Britain mean the half goes before or after? (ie is half six 5:30 or 6:30)?

Thanks,

Jackie

6:30.

The term was originally 'half past six'. In Australian anyway, and probably I imagine the UK too, the 'half six' version evolved more among the working classes.

But beware - in German, and possibly other laguages - 'half six' means 'half way to six', ie 5.30, and not half way past six.

So basically, it could go either way. This is just my $.02, but perhaps it would be easier to say 5:30 or 6:30 and eliminate any doubt.

Or we could say 0530, 0630, 1730 and 1830 and eleminate all doubt. But then we have time zone problems so....