Daylight-Saving Time - Hero or Villain?
Atualizado: 5 de nov.
The Daylight-Saving Time or DST
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em PORTUGUÊS - CLIQUE AQUI
When we Brazilians hear the acronym DST, what immediately comes to our mind is, Sexually Transmitted Diseases which in English would be STD, but in the US, it means Daylight-Saving Time, i.e. "Horário de verão."
The DST was first adopted by the Germans during the First World War, followed by England and the United States in 1966.
In Portugues Daylight-saving Time, literally means "tempo de economizar luz diurna". Americans use a little saying to remember when they should advance or delay their clocks, "Spring Forward and Fall Back," i.e., in the Spring they should set their clocks 1 hour ahead and in the Fall set them backward 1 hour.
In fact, the saying above is a clever and humorous reminder of what to do when daylight saving time comes around: when spring arrives, we move our clocks forward; when fall comes, we turn them back..
However the phrase is also a pun, for "Spring Forward and Fall Back," may be translated as "Pula para frente e cai para trás", as well. Easy to keep in mind, uh?
While here in Brazil, we used, when the DST was in force, set our clocks forward on the 3rd Sunday in October and back on the 3rd Sunday in February* always at 12 o'clock a.m. In the US, they jump forward 1 hour on the second Sunday in March at 2:00 p.m. and fall back 1 hour on the first Sunday in November also at 2:00 p.m.
*Except when Carnival Sunday was on the 3rd Sunday in February.
DST - HERO OR VILLAIN?
HERO - Actually, at least in the US, DST does not save much, but it's kept for economic reasons, because on days when there's sunshine after school or work, people feel encouraged to go shopping. A lot of industries are benefited as well, such as the barbecue gear manufacturers. Manufacturers have found out that every single extra month of DST would mean profits ranging from $ 150 to $ 200 million.
VILLAIN - On the other hand, studies show that an average American worker loses, due to the consequent insomnia, 40 minutes of sleep a night when the clocks are set forward, as a result, on the first Monday after DST, 25% more heart attacks are reported, the number of car accidents rise by about 17% and accidents at work by 6%.
Glossary:
acronym - sigla
i.e. - do latim "id est" que quer dizer "isto é"
saying - ditado
spring (irregular verb) - saltar
pun - trocadilho
gear - apetrechos
range - regular verb -Variar dentro de limites específicos
Sources:
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