To ask what it is O'CLOCK

Insights

Absurd Inquiry

The question symbolizes a pointless or absurd inquiry, especially when the answer is obvious. Torriano’s 1666 citation compares it to asking 'what's a clock when it strikes,' highlighting its use to mock a lack of awareness.

Feigned Ignorance

Asking the time can be a social maneuver to express boredom or to deliberately change the subject. It functions as a verbal cue that one is disengaged from the current conversation, redirecting focus through a seemingly neutral question.

A Prompt for Wit

Within literary contexts, particularly in Elizabethan and Restoration comedy, asking the time serves as a setup for a witty exchange or a 'girde' (a jest or taunt). It is less about finding out the time and more about initiating a verbal duel.

Rejection of Social Convention

In Shakespeare's 'As You Like It', asking the time in a forest ('There's no clock in the forest') metaphorically represents a challenge to the relevance of structured, societal time in a natural or pastoral setting, highlighting a conflict between two different ways of life.

Literary and Social Context

The phrase's use in literature by authors like Shakespeare and Swift reveals its role as a social and rhetorical device. In a world increasingly governed by mechanical time, asking the hour could be a genuine inquiry, a display of wit, or a marker of one's detachment from societal norms, as in a forest where 'no clock' exists.

Technological and Cultural Shift

The proverb captures a cultural moment where personal time-telling devices were not ubiquitous. The act of asking the time could thus be used to expose another's ignorance or foolishness, as highlighted by the sharp retort in Swift's 'Polite Conversation', turning a simple question into an insult.

Psychological Subtext

Psychologically, the act of asking a mundane question like 'what's o'clock?' can serve as a conversational gambit. It can be a tool for distraction, a subtle expression of boredom, or a test of another's wit, revealing the complex subtext that often underlies simple social interactions.

Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical Question

The phrase is often used as a rhetorical question, where the speaker is not seeking information but is instead making a statement about the situation's absurdity or the other person's foolishness.

Irony

The humor and impact of the phrase often derive from situational irony, such as asking for the time in a place where it is irrelevant (a forest) or at a moment when it is self-evident (a clock striking).

Social Commentary

The question functions as a form of social commentary, using a mundane interaction to critique social behaviors, expose ignorance, or highlight the clash between natural and regulated modes of living.