[enobrev]

That reminds me of how in the Northeast they say "Quarter of [hour]" whereas in the Midwest it's "Quarter after [hour]". The former confuses me every time, with my immediate thought being "is 'of' before or after"? My wife, who is from the Northeast, just confirmed it's "before"

Edit: I mistyped my comment as "after". The replies are justified.

[thescriptkiddie]

I'm pretty sure that "quarter of" means 15 minutes before, not after. But confusingly, I've also heard people day just "quarter" (no "of") to mean 15 minutes after.

[Dylan16807]

"quarter of" is easy.

Try asking people what "half three" means.

[smackmybishop]

Your wife is wrong, it means "before."