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at the midnight hour

English translation: well...

21:53 Aug 19, 2002
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Medical
English term or phrase: at the midnight hour
please, is there any native american translator around who knows whether this expression has any other meaning apart from the literal one? Thanks a bunch
logos75
Selected answer:well...
Explanation:
I'm not a native American translator (I would have to be a red Indian, really), but as far as I know, "at the midnight hour" means not only literally around midnight, but also "very late (in the night)".

Example: He called me at the midnight hour --> he called me late at night...
Selected response from:

Klaus Dorn (X)
Local time: 10:14
Grading comment
hey, Klaus! Thanks a lot! And thanks to the other people as well (man, that second coming thing was really wicked! shame the translation I'm doing is much more down-to-earth!)By the way, Klaus, if people born in the States are not native Americans, then I'm not native Spanish either, the native Spaniards were the Iberian Celts... all these considerations are petty matters... just like Spanish or Castillian? Well, guess we should be discussing this at the forum, ha, ha... ^^p
Anyway, thanks for your help!
Irea ([email protected])
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
3 +4well...
Klaus Dorn (X)
4 +1the witching hour
Kim Metzger
4Time to expect the Second Coming
Fuad Yahya


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
well...


Explanation:
I'm not a native American translator (I would have to be a red Indian, really), but as far as I know, "at the midnight hour" means not only literally around midnight, but also "very late (in the night)".

Example: He called me at the midnight hour --> he called me late at night...

Klaus Dorn (X)
Local time: 10:14
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in pair: 35
Grading comment
hey, Klaus! Thanks a lot! And thanks to the other people as well (man, that second coming thing was really wicked! shame the translation I'm doing is much more down-to-earth!)By the way, Klaus, if people born in the States are not native Americans, then I'm not native Spanish either, the native Spaniards were the Iberian Celts... all these considerations are petty matters... just like Spanish or Castillian? Well, guess we should be discussing this at the forum, ha, ha... ^^p
Anyway, thanks for your help!
Irea ([email protected])

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Massimo Gaido: I am not an American Indian either, but I live in the US......
4 mins
  -> that makes me a Turk then...:-))
agree  Margaret Schroeder: I am a Canadian, which, linguistically is almost like an American, and I second Klaus's interpretations.
12 mins
  -> thks!
agree  cheungmo: At the nexus of the night
15 mins
  -> thanks!
agree  Chinoise
37 mins
agree  Antonio Camangi
9 hrs
disagree  John Kinory (X): Shades of your old offensive forum posting, for which you ended up apologising at some length, perhaps? People born in the USA and speaking AE as their first language, are native Americans for the purpose of this question.
21 hrs
agree  AhmedAMS
13 days
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19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Time to expect the Second Coming


Explanation:
The Midnight Hour is used by some as a metaphor for a time when the light of the Second Coming will shine in the midst of darkness, a time when the darkness of night and the light of day meet, hence "the Midnight Hour." The image of liaght and darkness alludes to Isaiah 60:1-2:

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."

Please take a look at the following page:

http://www.geocities.com/midnighthourministries/


Fuad


    Reference: http://www.geocities.com/midnighthourministries/
Fuad Yahya
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 893
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28 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
the witching hour


Explanation:
For some Americans (and British people too, I could imagine) the phrase *the midnight hour* has spooky connotations. It is used to refer to the time of night when the witches, goblins and ghosts and come out to scare people. It's also called the witching hour.


    Reference: http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/4thFloorPictures/MIDNIGHT.html
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 01:14
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 2249

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Klaus Dorn (X)
1 min
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