As members of the Bob o’clock Facebook group know, the expression “Bob o’clock” means, “It’s 8:08!” The hosts discuss this and other silly ways to tell time inspired by the boxy numbers on a digital clock. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Bob O’Clock”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
Recently, I was having dinner with a friend when she looked up and she said,
Oh my gosh, it’s Bob O’Clock.
And you know, it only took me a second before I understood what she was talking about.
On a digital clock, like a clock radio by your bed, those boxy numerals,
They look like Bob if it’s 808.
Oh, I see.
It’s not time for Bob to arrive or anything like that.
Well, I suppose that’s a secondary meaning.
You know, there’s a bunch more of those.
Well, yeah.
As soon as I got home, I Googled Bob O’Clock.
Of course, you know me.
I ran home and Googled.
And sure enough, there’s already a Facebook group called, oh, my God, it’s Bob O’Clock.
No, I mean more words that you can spell on the clock and then add a clock at the end of it.
Yeah.
Like, hello clock.
Hello clock.
It’s 1134.
Oh, wow.
Turn 1134 upside down.
It looks like hell, so it’s hello clock.
And LOL o’clock, LOL o’clock is 7.07.
Oh, man.
Yeah.
I hadn’t thought about that.
But you’re right.
I mean, I did start thinking about the way that those digits could start changing the way we talk a little bit.
I mean, you could say she was supposed to be here at boo o’clock, but she’s not here yet.
Maybe she’ll get here at big o’clock, you know, 8 o’clock and 8.19.
Grant, I don’t know.
I mean, you’re probably skeptical, but I think this has legs.
No, no, no.
I think it’s fun.
I love this kind of playing with language.
Yeah, pie o’clock, for example, is 314.
Pie o’clock?
Pie.
3.1415926.
The pie, the value of pie.
314, it’s pie o’clock.
It’s time to eat pie, maybe.
I don’t know.
Oh, okay.
There’s a bunch of these.
Leg o’clock.
Leg.
Leg o’clock?
Yeah.
The entry on Urban Dictionary says it’s the time your alarm goes off again when you hit the snooze at 630.
So it goes off again at 637, which you’ve probably thrown your clock across the room.
It’s upside down.
And so the 637 looks like L-E-G.
Wordplay, numberplay is fun.
It’s good stuff.
You get those words and those numbers together and things happen.
And if you get your words and your numbers together and you want to share them with us,
Give us a call, 1-877-929-9673.
Send them an email to words@waywordradio.org and look for us on Facebook.
