A New York Minute

It is said that a New York minute is the fastest minute in the world, because New Yorkers rush around, trying to do as much as they can in as short a time as possible. As Einstein discovered, time is relative. And if you plan to go to New York this summer, or anywhere else in the United States in the future, there are a few things you should keep in mind, in order to avoid mix-ups[1].

Beginning with the hours, we don’t use a 24-hour clock, which is referred to as military time. If it’s not obvious, we civilians place AM (for the morning) or PM (for the afternoon) after the hour. As you know, we say o’clock[2] after the time when it becomes a new hour (:00 minutes). If we want to stress :00 minutes exactly, we can say on the dot[3] after the time. 12:00 is a special case. As you can see below, there are various ways to express it.

12:00                        =             twelve o’clock / twelve on the dot

12:00 PM                   =             noon[4]

12:00 AM (24:00)        =             midnight[5]

Also, don’t forget that there is a six hour difference between Spain and New York... 

So Spain is six hours ahead, which means if it is 12:00 in the afternoon in Spain, it is 6:00 in the morning in New York. 

Or New York is six hours behind, which means if it is 12:00 in the afternoon in New York, it is 6:00 in the evening in Spain.

Now, let’s take a look at calendars and dates. 
Unlike a Spanish calendar, the first day on an American one is Sunday NOT Monday, and the last one is Saturday NOT Sunday!

Also, it’s more common for us to say and write the month before the day! So, 5/10 is NOT the fifth of October BUT May tenth!

If you’re going shopping, as I imagine you will, it’s important not to confuse periods[6], or points, and commas. Their use is just the opposite of how you Spaniards use them. We use commas to indicate thousands, and periods before fractions. And we do NOT use commas (or periods) in years in order to avoid confusion. So…

19.99             =             nineteen (point) ninety-nine

1,999             =             one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine

1999              =             (the year) nineteen, ninety-nine

Confusing isn’t it?! But it’s these little differences that add local flavor!

[1] confusiones, [2] en punto, [3] en punto, [4] mediodía, [5] medianoche, [6] puntos