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Brad,

The main assumption stated is that the song takes place in North America.  A line in the song says that it is July, so Daylight Saving Time is in effect (except for Arizona).  Consider these.

Stan

-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Morris <NoReply_Morris@fer3.com>
To: slk1000 <slk1000---.com>
Sent: Tue, Nov 13, 2018 5:02 pm
Subject: [NavList] Re: A question about an Alan Jackson song

Ha!  Its helpful to read the question carefully.

It must be 12:30 in one time zone, 5 in another.  So the UK/India is 5:30 apart, not 4:30 as the song requires.  We need to move to UTC+1, or European Central Time, ie Warsaw, Poland.

Could also be Guam (US) UTC+10 and India UTC+5:30 for a 4:30 time zone difference.

Another way at this is to have it be 5 the previous day and 12:30 today, for a 19:30 time difference.  

On Tue, Nov 13, 2018, 3:19 PM Brad Morris <NoReply_Morris@fer3.com wrote:

If we assume anywhere, then UTC+0 (noon) and UTC+5:30 works.  UK and India

Brad

On Tue, Nov 13, 2018, 2:10 PM Stan K <NoReply_StanK@fer3.com wrote:

My wife surprised me this morning.  (No, not that!  Get your minds out of the gutter!)  While taking a shower, she was singing "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere", and she questioned the line "It's only half past twelve but I don't care, It's five o'clock somewhere."  She asked me if it was possible (assuming the line is taken literally, not that it is simply past 5 PM somewhere).  I quickly explained that there are places that use time zones that are offset not by whole hours but by half hours (and some by three-quarters of an hour), so it was likely possible.  But I began to wonder about specifics.

Here are the lyrics to "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"

That sun is hot and that old clock is moving slow
And so am I
The workday passes like molasses in wintertime
But it's July
I'm getting paid by the hour and older by the minute
My boss just pushed me over the limit
I'd love to call him something, but I think I'll just call it a day

Pour me something tall and strong
Make it a hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere

Well this lunchbreak is gonna take all afternoon
And half the night
Tomorrow morning I know there'll be hell to pay
Hey, but that's alright
I ain't had a day off now in over a year
My Jamaican vacation's gonna start right here
If the phone is for me you can tell 'em I just sailed away

Pour me something tall and strong
Make it a hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere

I could pay off my tab, pour myself in a cab
And be back to work before two
But at a moment like this I can't help but wonder
What would Jimmy Buffett do

He'd say pour me something tall and strong
Make it a hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere

Aside from the line in question, I think there is only one other line that adds any significant information.

Assuming the song takes place in North America, and that "half past twelve" means thirty minutes past noon, and "five o'clock" means 5:00 PM (the last two being pretty sure things based on context), I concluded that the song takes place in a location that observes Pacific Daylight Time, or possibly Arizona, and that "somewhere" could only be Newfoundland.

Any other thoughts?

Stan