The idea of saying “o’clock” sounds kind of Irish in a way. We’ve always just said it after announcing the time but when did it start? It goes back to simpler times when it was rare to find an actual clock to see the time. People would use other means to tell time like a sundial or just by guessing. This was mostly during the 13th through 17th centuries. If they happened to have a real clock they would let you know by saying “It’s four of the clock.” Which proved you got the time from a clock so it was accurate. That eventually just became shortened to “o’clock” and we’ve used it ever since.
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