You have helped me many times before with language questions. Here I am again. You’ve got a character sitting in a hotel in France writing a telegram to the U.S. The year is 1884.
- What would the telegraph office in the hotel be called (because hotels did have telegraph offices)?
- How would the person write out the date and time? For example, an American at that time could write
2 June 1884 8:00 a.m.
2nd June 1884 8 a.m.
June 2, 1884 8 am
but I’m pretty sure the time especially would be handled in a different way.
Any help much appreciated.
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I’m French Canadian, so I doubt I’d be able to help you with question 1. I know right now in France they use A LOT of anglicisms (which bothers us Quebecers ;) )
As far as date goes, right now we’d write 2 juin 1884 8h00. No need for a.m., as 8 pm is written 20h00. And months are written in lower case. Hope this helps a little!
Oupelai — thank you, that’s very helpful. I also had email from a couple shyer people. What would I do without you?