It’s all about the clocks: We’re ruled by them and we organise our lives around them, yet we’re the ones who determine what they mean. You’d think we’d make things easier for ourselves by changing what clocks mean and say, but no.
Last night, our clocks jumped ahead by one hour as we began NZDT—New Zealand Daylight Time. New Zealand changed the starting and stopping times for Daylight Saving Time in order to give Kiwis more summer, which to me seems like a fine idea.
I’m not one of those people who minds the seasonal changing of the clocks—especially when it gives us more summer daytime. However, there are two things about it that do annoy me.
First, for the next two or three weeks I’ll be listening to folks telling me how hard the time change is on them. If they flew to another country on holiday, within a day or two they’d be adjusted to the new time. So, I just don’t get why changing the clock by only one hour apparently wreaks so much havoc on some people.
The other thing is more of a curiosity than an annoyance: Reminding Kiwis which way the clocks go. I grew up fully knowing this because of the mnemonic device, “Spring ahead, Fall back”. But in New Zealand, “Fall” is called “Autumn”, which clearly doesn’t work in the phrase.
Interestingly, the term “Fall” is very old and was once commonly used in Britain, but the British gradually switched to “Autumn” sometime after the American Revolution. Cut off from the English version of English, Americans tended to settle on “Fall”. Because the English migration to New Zealand and Australia was mostly well after the American Revolution, settlers to these countries brought the word “Autumn” with them. And that’s why this difference exists.
Still, if for no other reason than to help them remember which way to turn their clocks, it could serve Kiwis well to learn and adopt “Fall”, even if only as a less-favoured synonym for “Autumn”. Or, I guess they could always ask the American expats in their midst.
3 comments:
There are lots of studies - too tired to look - that talks about the increased number of accidents in the US that first week when we spring forward. totally throws the daughter off the last couple years. yes, I'm one of the grumps, esp since it can now happen here as early as MARCH 8 and I get up when it's DARK. grumble, grumble.
I wish we could just stay on Daylight Saving Time for good. No more springing forward and "autuming" backwards. I don't complain because I can't adjust to the time, but rather because it's useless and actually makes winter less bearable.
We only get about 8.5 hours of sunlight in the dead of winter to begin with. It's dark when you arrive at work, and dark when you leave. At least if we were on DST all-year, it would be light in the mornings. (And, come to think of it, I believe that's exactly what the province of Saskatchewan does.)
There was a great ad for Expedia.ca's "Escape Winter Sale" last year. It had a woman sitting at her office desk, looking a little tired; she glances over at the clock---it's 4:25. Then she glances up at the window to see the darkest, most miserable, winter cityscape. The next shot is of her wailing in despair.
(I really wish I could have found it on YouTube, but at least I found a screen capture of the city scape in that scene. Expedia.ca actually removed the clips from all the online sources I could check due to "copyright infringement." What kind of company deliberately thwarts free advertising!?)
Roger: There was a time when I was VERY grumpy about it: When Congress moved DST to "save oil" during the Arab Oil Embargo. I missed the school bus several mornings because the driver couldn't see me running for the bus (and I had trouble getting up in the dark). So, I do know what it feels like to be bothered by the change.
Mark: It doesn't make any difference to winter here, but I actually would prefer that we just make DST permanent. The opposition here always comes from dairy farmers (a powerful lobby) who have to milk the cows in the dark when the clocks change to DST. But I believe that cows can adapt and so can people, and fairy farmers are often classified as people, too. ;-)
Any company that bans links and repostings of its commercials is just plain stupid. I can't see any legitimate reason for companies to do that, unless it's a commercial that's been pulled for some embarrassing reason—like it defamed someone, said something illegal or was just incredibly lame.
Post a Comment