I, like so many other Swedes, have “afternoon disease” where we mess up afternoon times all the time. All odd hours are the same as each other and all even hours are the same as each other. Because 2 is 14 which gets brainfritzed to 4 which is 16 which gets brainfritzed to 6 which is 18 which gets brainfritzed to 8 which is 20 and maybe in the late evening it’s not as bad which is why it’s called afternoon disease and not late-evening–disease.
And yes, it is recursive this way. It’s not enough that 4 PM gets misread as 2 PM (because the four gets misread as 14 which is 2 PM) and as 6 PM (because the four is 16 which gets misread as 6 PM). That’s bad enough, that one time is the same as two completely different times two hours apart in the opposite directions. But it goes all the way. 2 can become 8 this way through multiple instances of brainfritzing. And it’s not a slow drift over a long conversation; the recursive brainfritzing can happen multiple times between two breaths. I see 2 and write down 8. Or any other even hour for any other even hour, and any other odd hour for any other odd hour. I’m sure a lot of Swedes can relate and are pumping their fists in celebratory commiseration right now while those who can’t are like “what the heck are you talking about, I’ve never done that mistake in my entire life” to which I say boo and hiss!
I even went as far to set my phone to 12h AM/PM time instead of the 24h typical for our locale. But then I got noon/midnight disease instead. I tried my best to remember that the numbers roll over between 12:59 and 1:00, but the AM/PM flag toggles at an hour earlier at 12:00 inclusive so 12:00 PM through 12:59 PM is noon and 12:00 AM through 12:59 is night time. And most of the alarms I set are around noonish because they are for laundry purposes. But toggling it back to 24h has reminded me how bad afternoon disease is especially with my wristwatch which is… analog! So it only has 12. I’m gonna switch it back and set all my clocks to 12 AM/PM. I’ll see if I can set my oven clock that way too and on my game consoles. I finally found the option on iPad at least.
A lot of Swedes panic at the mere mention of AM/PM (and I don’t blame them, noon/midnight disease is a hell of a drug) and are super fanatic about always using 24h format on their digital clocks but have no qualms also using analog 12h clocks and calling 16:00 “klockan fyra”. Or “klockan sex” if they get a li’l bout of afternoon disease.
Beat time when?!