The farmyard was deserted. Dieter had gone down the lane with Rupert
and Nialla to the river, and by now they had probably already made
camp. If I was lucky, I might be just in time for a cup of tea. I felt
as if I’d been up all night.What was the time, anyway?
God blind me with a fish fork! Aunt Felicity’s train was due to arrive
at five past ten and I’d completely forgotten about her! Father would
have my guts for garters.
Out of the village I went like the wind, southwestwards towards Buckshaw, until I came at last to the Mulford Gates, where
Clarence Mundy sat waiting, perched on one of the wings of his
taxicab, dragging thirstily at a cigarette. By the snowfall of butts
on the road, I could tell that it was not his first.“Hullo, Clarence,” I said. “How’s the time?”
“Ten hundred hours,” he said, glancing at this elaborate military
wristwatch. “Better climb aboard.”(from ‘The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag’)
Judging from the words, Ten hundred hours, I can guess ‘How’s the time’ may have the same meaning as ‘What is the time.’ Do the two sentences really have the same meaning?
Best Answer
The connotations are slightly different. "What is the time" is the more neutral version, and is a simple, casual question. "How is the time" means that you want to know the condition or state of the time, which implies that something about the situation may be time-critical or stressful. People will use the latter when they are worried that the answer will be "too late" for whatever purposes caused them to ask.