I noticed that I and Alexa say “six ‘oh’ five a m”, but is that the correct way of saying the time? Specifically the “oh” part?
Kind of like when speaking out a phone number, how we might say “my number is one two three, six ‘oh’ six…” but really, that’s not an “oh” like the letter O even though it looks like an O, but everyone knows the person is saying “six zero six”, which is the proper way of saying that.
The correct spoken way is to say 5 past 6.
I don’t really see a reason for including the zero unless it also says all the digits at other times. Like 6:45 would be six-four-five, which makes very little sense when spoken. If it’s capable of saying six-fourtyfive, it should also just say six-five for 6:05. But again, in the case of 6:45 the proper spoken way would be “(a) quarter to seven”
It seems like a lazy solution just to say the digits.
It doesn’t have to be difficult to do right. The code should just include a small table with the correct words.
Probably should take into account people with learning disabilities and processing disorders. six-oh-five is straight forward for anyone, five past six and five til six are commonly used but can trip up some people more than you’d expect.
edit: the “quarter” variations are also problematic for some without taking a few beats longer to get it right because of the tendency to think of it as 25 instead of 15.
As an option, definitely. As a default though I too would prefer the standard spoken form if the time is going to be spoken rather than displayed. It’s a bit like how simplified wikipedia is a good idea but I prefer regular English to be the default version.