Even A Stopped Clock Is Right Twice A Day
April 2, 2019 10:49 PM   Subscribe

Through random internet poking I found this page on the proverb "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day" which I found to be supremely interesting. I thought maybe you might also find it interesting.
posted by hippybear (31 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love this. The Lewis Carroll bit is fascinating
posted by nikaspark at 11:19 PM on April 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


I agree. However, I draw different conclusions than Carroll.

The stopped clock is useless at telling time, because by looking at it, you have no idea if it is correct or not.

But the clock that loses a minute each day at least can be useful, if its deficiency is a regular one, and known to its owner.

Not to mention that the clock that loses time daily can be adjusted each day to be a useful time keeper and no more than a minute off, whereas the stopped clock is unable to be so employed.

In conclusion: it’s well past time for bed. Good night MeFi.
posted by darkstar at 12:11 AM on April 3, 2019 [4 favorites]


Yeah, a stopped clock isn't really a clock at all, to any practical purpose. it'd be no different than writing 3:17 on a wall and calling that a clock since it refers to a temporal function by its notation, but doesn't actually provide any indication of time passing.

If the "clock" is the sole authority on what time it is, say if you're trapped in a deep underground bunker after a nuclear apocalypse, then whatever it says is the law for time, It'd be 3:17 permanently for lacking competing authority to gainsay its rule. Obviously that would quickly lead to denying the clock its authority as it'd be useless for knowing when to take one of your precious few frozen pizzas out of the oven to prevent it from burning. You'd quickly revert to relying on your own intuition of time as an alternative unless one was aware of how long should take for a pizza to brown but not burn in an oven set at the proper temperature, in which case the pizza would be a better clock than the stopped one.

If, though, you had unlimited frozen pizzas, sufficient bodies to keep watch and a reliable oven, cooking pizzas could roughly duplicate the performance of a clock that kept reasonably varied time. Your day would be broken into, what we'd call, twenty five minute intervals of cheese/crust browning that would be repeated constantly in lieu of the change of an hour. The intermediate times would be noted by reference to times like third still icy o'clock, 14th slightly melted o'clock and 38th not quite crisp o'clock as you scheduled your varied tasks for the day.

Long story short, a stopped clock is worthless and annoying just like anyone who kept saying the same thing over and over again regardless of circumstance, a working clock that maintains a reliably off time still has its use, but pizzas are delicious and could work better than either so that's the best way to go.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:04 AM on April 3, 2019 [16 favorites]


This is very interesting! Studying the origins of catchphrases and proverbs is a way to reveal how much (or sometimes how little) has the culture changed over time. Notice that in the original text the stopped clock was used, although jokingly, as a positive example: if you don't change your style you'll be en vogue some of the time, if you try to keep up, you never will. Currently it's I think invariably used disparagingly: "yeah, he was right, so what, a stopped clock is right twice a day".
posted by hat_eater at 2:41 AM on April 3, 2019 [6 favorites]


darkstar: However, I draw different conclusions than Carroll.

I think you're actually agreeing with Carroll, which is generally a safe bet I think. Note his careful use of "evidently", too.
posted by merlynkline at 2:45 AM on April 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


a stopped clock is worthless and annoying just like anyone who kept saying the same thing over and over again regardless of circumstance,

"I am Groot."
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:13 AM on April 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


Of course, the clock running backwards is right four times per day.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:39 AM on April 3, 2019 [5 favorites]


A stopped clock may be right twice a day, but a backwards-running clock is right four times a day.
posted by explosion at 4:40 AM on April 3, 2019 [3 favorites]


Just because.
posted by pompomtom at 4:59 AM on April 3, 2019


A backwards-running infinite-speed clock should always be correct then, no?
posted by pompomtom at 5:02 AM on April 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


My favorite was the John Hodgeman quote: "A stopped clock is right twice a day, but a sundial can be used to stab someone, even at night."
posted by rikschell at 5:08 AM on April 3, 2019 [12 favorites]


Quote Investigator rulez
posted by thelonius at 5:12 AM on April 3, 2019


A backwards-running infinite-speed clock should always be correct then, no?

No, due to relativistic time dilation it, too, will be right twice a day.
posted by TedW at 6:45 AM on April 3, 2019 [3 favorites]


"I am Groot."

Oh, yes, I definitely agree there is a cultural component to all of this. Your example of a working clock that no one knew how to read is a good one. But if we assume the culture can adapt, then even if one doesn't read 12:00 for either noon or midnight it could still be assigned a culturally specific indication that would allow it to be used in much the same way as a culture that used our clock time. You're right to stress the importance of intersubjectivity in all this, as ignorance of culturally transmitted values can indeed work in much the same manner as a stopped clock, metaphorically speaking.
posted by gusottertrout at 7:09 AM on April 3, 2019


I prefer "Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while."

Or because I am pathologically compellled to obliterate metaphors, I frequently say, "Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day."

I'm just not the brightest tool in the box.
posted by skullhead at 7:09 AM on April 3, 2019 [4 favorites]


Ergo 720 stopped clocks, each stopped at a different minute, will collectively be right all day.
posted by ejs at 7:13 AM on April 3, 2019 [6 favorites]


I first read the stopped clock aphorism in Mad Magazine's department of marginal thinking.
posted by Obscure Reference at 8:12 AM on April 3, 2019


Even a blind squirrel find a nut occasionally.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:30 AM on April 3, 2019




*pushes up sleeve to check watch drawn on wrist with pen*

Dang, will this day ever end?
posted by ckape at 8:51 AM on April 3, 2019 [3 favorites]


A serious discussion on timekeeping (SLYT)
posted by "mad dan" eccles at 9:25 AM on April 3, 2019


Metafilter: If, though, you had unlimited frozen pizzas,
posted by medusa at 9:28 AM on April 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


If a door is never opened, is it a wall?
posted by freecellwizard at 9:54 AM on April 3, 2019 [3 favorites]


No clock can ever be right because time is not discrete. But on the other hand, even a lame fox can lure a fish with its tail.
posted by hat_eater at 11:22 AM on April 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


If the day in question has a leap second, there is the possibility that the stopped clock will only be right once that day.
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 11:48 AM on April 3, 2019


I, under my previous username 'wendell', made the original quotable that "a stopped clock is right twice a day but a clock running backwards is right twice as often" (And got 20 favorites for it). That was in the same thread where I pledged never to acquire a gun unless I intended to kill a specific person with it, and if I hadn't found someone yet, I probably never would (And was pleasantly surprised not to have that comment deleted).

As an analogy, I would think that the current marketplace of ideas has many stopped clocks, quite a few backwards running ones, and an assortment of other variations, including clocks running at half-speed and quarter-speed, backwards clocks losing extra minutes daily and seemingly functional clocks jumping an hour randomly when nobody's looking. And don't get me started on Daylight Saving time.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:00 PM on April 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


This shows the superiority of broken clocks compared to broken stopwatches. The former are equally good on average over time compared to nearly-perfectly working watches. Which shows the usefulness of averages and modulo arithmetic. Anyway, here's Orbital and Planet of the Shapes.
posted by ikalliom at 1:00 PM on April 3, 2019


I have always found the saying useful as a way to demonstrate the difference between accuracy and precision.

The stopped clock, twice a day, is precisely correct. Its measurement time matches the thing that it is measuring to an infinite number of milliseconds.

Any other clock will never match that precision, but on average it will be far more accurate.
posted by Squid Voltaire at 2:19 PM on April 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


If you use military time that quote never seemed right.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:17 PM on April 3, 2019


Though it’s not like people in the military use clocks with 1 to 24 on the face. ..
posted by ejs at 5:09 AM on April 4, 2019


It's not?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:47 AM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]


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