Harriet James wrote: > The NASS dialist's companion gives the meridians for US time zones > as: Atlantic 60° W > Eastern 75° W > Central 90°W > Mountain 105° W > Pacific 120°W
> Do all Americans adhere to these time zones, or are some > like the French who like to be one hour ahead of GMT even > though France lies within 7.5° of the Greenwich Meridian? As already mentioned, the time zones in America do not strictly adhere to the 7.5 degrees on either side of the central meridian, but follow convenient political boundaries. Be aware that Newfoundland has a 3.5 hour offset from Greenwich. The central meridian would be 52.5°. Two islands quite close to Newfoundland maintain an even offset of of 3 hours. They are St. Pierre and Miquelon. As for the rest of the world there are a number of other half hour offsets. Among them are India, Iran, and Afghanistan. If that's not enough, Nepal has an offset of 5 hours 40 minutes. There is a world time zone map that is not easy to read at: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/world_tzones.html Bob Terwilliger co-author, with Fred Sawyer, of The Dialist's Companion.
