At what time did Grandfather enter?

Subject: At What Time Did Grandfather Enter?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 10:52 AM

The second stanza of "Grandfather's Clock" says, "For it struck twenty-four when he entered at the door." Was it 12 o'clock at midnight? Then, why did it strike twenty-four instead of twelve? A tall clock I know strikes only twelve.

2. In watching its pendulum swing to and fro,
Many hours had he spent while a boy;
And its childhood and manhood the clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy.
For it struck twenty-four when he entered at the door,
With a blooming and beautiful bride;
But it stopp'd short-- never to go again--
When the old man died.

~Masato

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 10:55 AM

It struck twenty four because it got carried away with the occasion, and it wanted to ryhme.

Of course.

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: MMario
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 10:57 AM

yup - that's what I always assummed - it "struck twenty four" when grandfather got married because it was celebrating....

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Scrump
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:05 AM

If the clock keeps 24-hour time (as opposed to 12-hour), it would have to strike 24 at midnight, because the alternative would be to strike zero times, and that would be inaudible, and therefore useless to anyone relying on hearing it chime the hour.

It's the same reason a 12-hour clock strikes 12 at noon and midnight, rather than zero.

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Snuffy
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:24 AM

Did anyone make 24-hour chiming clocks?

I always assumed that striking 24 was something totally out of the ordinary to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:25 AM

"When the Clock Struck Zero" by John Taylor is worth reading, even if it isn't in the song.

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Peace
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:27 AM

I always thought he'd married at the age of 24. (I love that song BTW.)

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Tom Hamilton frae Saltcoats Scotland
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:31 AM

1984 by George Orwell the clocks there strike 13

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Peace
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:36 AM

I think Big Ben (OK, the clock in the Big Ben tower) struck 13 in a James Bond (OK, Ian Fleming novel about James Bond) story.

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:41 AM

Peace:

You were right to begin with. Big Ben struck 13 (if that's what the story says), because "Big Ben" is the bell, not the clock. Okay, maybe the clock struck Big Ben 13 times in the story.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:44 AM

I'd always thought what Peace said -- he was married at 24.

We had (and my brother still has) my grandparents old pendulum mantel clock. Once it struck 12 and kept going for over an hour -- nobody dead or anything, just broken. It really got on my grandmother's nerves!

Subject: RE: At What Time did Grandfather enter?
From: Peace
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:52 AM

Thank you Dave. I sorta recall something about Big Ben and its history, heavy on the sorta.