What does the expression "the eleventh hour" mean exactly? And can anyone tell me where it originated?
2006-10-31 07:24:20 · 5 answers · asked by nathanielqnc 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
The expression means "at the last possible moment".
This notion comes from a parable of Jesus (recorded in Matthew 20) in which the owner of a vineyard goes out throughout the day to hire men to work in his vineyard. The last group he recruits is "at the eleventh hour".
To understand this it is important to recognize the Roman system for counting daylight hours being used here. In it, every day was divided into 12 hours of daylight. (The length of an hour would vary a bit during the year, but in the Mediterranean region this is not as big a variation as it would be in more northerly regions). The counting began at sunrise, the 12th hour was sunset. Hence the eleventh hour would be the LAST hour or the day. the last possible hour for doing anything before the day ended.
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2006-10-31 19:18:34 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I haven't watched 11th hour. I love Fringe. I was an X-Files fan, and although it has the same idea in that they investigate strange events, I wouldn't say it is a ripoff. Think of all the other regular cop shows out there. There is room for a few paranormal cop shows without one being a ripoff of the other. And considering it has been a while and technology has changed quite a bit since the X-Files, there are a lot more things they can do with Fringe, not to mention with better special effects. Plus I am liking the back story of Fringe about experiments in the 70's on Olivia and others. I found myself confused trying to follow the back story on the X-Files, especially towards the end of the series.
2016-03-17 06:05:39 · answer #2 · answered by Beverly 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means stuff that happens at the last possible minute. I'm not sure where it came from exactly, but I did hear that it comes from newspapers. Newspapers usually have a 12:00 am deadline for the printing of the day's news. Things that happen in at 11:00 are usually short notice and are rushed into the newspaper at the last minute.
2006-10-31 08:24:29 · answer #3 · answered by nmtgirl 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
12th Hour
2016-11-15 00:16:40 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the last possible minute... originates from military time/terms
2006-10-31 07:31:50 · answer #5 · answered by xerocs 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋