Had a disagreement w/family regarding time description. We live in Texas and talking about Alaska. I was trying to think if it was earlier or later in Alaska. She said it was 5 hours later. It was 10 am here this morning and trying to clarify, I said it must be 3 pm there, she said no it would be 5 am. She also described East Coast time as earlier although it is an hour ahead from here, I said the time is later. Which is correct?
Yes, this is a "time question" more than a "word question," but I have an easy solution for you. Go to the link below:
http://www.worldtimeserver.com/
and type in the name of any city and state to see the current time at that location, including daylight saving time adjustments when applicable. I do a lot of conference calls, and the World Time Server helps me stay synced. Nothing more embarrassing than having to tell a client you missed a conference call because you forgot to adjust for time zones.
I think it is a word question, and while I tend to side with dennwayn (the time in Alaska is "earlier" than Texas), I can see why someone would interpret it the other way (it gets to be ten o'clock "earlier" in Texas than in Alaska). It's more of a gray area for me when someone talks of one locale being "ahead" or "behind" another. It all depends on how you're viewing the situation (the old "you take the one on the left"/"is that our left or their left?" problem).
The one I have the most trouble with involves maps. Is a larger-scale map one that covers a larger area, or one that requires a bigger map?
I have frequent need to communicate across time zones, and concede "earlier" is a relative concept. The ambiguity is resolved if all parties agree to define "earlier" in terms of absolute time (relative to the local "now") or define it in terms of time zones, in which case "earlier" means a difference in longitude.
You're right Ron ... I guess this is a "word question." Interesting spin on time.
But I maintain that, here in Arizona, whatever we're doing, we're doing it earlier than those in New York. Unless they did it first.
I have enough trouble in Arizona with the Daylight Saving thing. The usual advice to set clocks forward or back at certain times of the year don't apply, but twice a year I have to change the timed recording events for any cable TV shows (or streaming internet broadcasts), and I need to use a blackboard to work out whether to make them record an hour earlier or an hour later.
Matters with the Public Radio stuff since I get those from a Wisconsin source; less with Taiwan Radio since their programming is all on a four-hour repeat anyway.