“It was quarter of eight.” - said David Foster Wallace. Does that mean 8:15 or 7:15?

7:45.

7:45 is correct. One might also say "Quarter to eight." They mean the same thing. 8:15 would be "quarter after eight," just as 7:15 would be "quarter after seven."

Quarter after eight = 8:15 Quarter of eight = 7:45 Quarter to eight = 7:45

Interesting. The comments indicate 7:45. Coming from the UK I’ve never heard of”quarter of 8” as a time and would intuited 8:15. Always learning!

7:45

7:45. It's an idiom. From the [Merriam Webster dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%28a%29%20quarter%20of): > **(a) quarter of** idiom US : 15 minutes before (a stated hour)

ngl, quarter **of** eight doesn’t even sound the most correct. technically it’s a valid phrase and means 7:45, but if this wording is ever used i almost always hear “quarter after/past eight” for 8:15, or “quarter til/from eight”. “quarter of” sounds like it could be either even though it isn’t.

Quarter to or after eight. No one says “quarter of eight”

Neither, it means the same thing as "quarter *to* eight", i.e. fifteen minutes before 8:00, or 7:45.

7:45. I don’t tell time that way, but it’s the only way I heard it when I was going to school in NJ.

Never heard this

7:45

No idea, which is why I hate ambiguous phrases like this.

If they say of I would assume 8:15, if they said to then it would be 7:45. At no point would I think 7:15

# “It was quarter of eight.” > ❌ WRONG # “It was quarter TO eight.” > ✅ CORRECT = 07.45

I’ve literally never heard anyone say “quarter of x” in my life, it’s always “quarter to x” where I’m from. Maybe it’s a yank thing?

Irish say “half 7” to mean 7:30. I initially thought half 7 would be 6:30, but they’re just dropping the “past”… so they are saying “half past 7” as “half 7” to mean “7:30.” Crazy confusing to me.

It would likely be 7:45. It doesn't make tonnes of sense as you would usually say "Quarter to eight" or "a quarter off 8" but the second one is not common.

I have one aunt who talks this way, only person I’ve never met who says this. I never know what time she means. She’s also the only person I’ve ever met who says “half 7” as if 3rd grade math didn’t teach me that 7/2 is 3.5. (Just like “quarter of 8” *somehow* doesn’t mean 2, “half 7” also *somehow* doesn’t mean 3:30. Beware!) Just avoid these phrases. They’re confusing outside of whatever small regional or generation range (unclear) uses them.

7:45. Quarter of Eight means 15 minutes before eight o'clock.

It means 7:45 I think a lot of younger people wouldn’t understand it though

It's a quarter (short) of eight, or 7:45. I use this, but it's rapidly falling out of favor in the US.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/of 11b : 11 a —used as a function word to indicate the position in time of an action or occurrence died of a Monday b : BEFORE quarter of ten

8:15

I've spoken American English since I was born and I've literally never heard an American say "quarter *of* eight" rather than "quarter *to* eight" or "quarter *after* eight". I honestly don't know what he means. That's either a regional thing from wherever he's from or a pretentious way to say it (which would be unsurprising from Wallace). Brits say it's "half eight", etc., which I've never heard an American use.

I've never heard "of" 8 before. A quarter til, quarter before...sure. quarter of? Never.

“Quarter of eight”? That can’t be right, surely? ‘Quarter to’, or ‘quarter past’ come to mind as clear temporal markers. But ‘quarter of’? That doesn’t even make sense as a time descriptor. A quarter of 8 is 2.

Neither. It's 7:45. It's old-fashioned English. Nowadays, we'd say "quarter to eight". DFW likes to screw around with language.

pretty sure he meant 2 o'clock