Marcar los cuartos

02:05 Jan 27, 2016 

I used to live on the south bank across from Parliament in London, from where you could hear the Westminster bells chiming every quarter. After a while, I only heard it if I was listening out for it. I can't say it ever really bothered me. Now, mariachis serenading at 3 in the morning, that's an entirely different matter...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Quarters

23:21 Jan 26, 2016 

In my experience —at least in the places where I have lived in Spain— because church-tower clocks are "modern", electronic ones, these are programmed to stop striking during the night, from around midnight to eight o'clock in the morning. They obviously assume that everyone has the same daily routine and sleeping hours; so although it does not help everyone, at least the average person does get some sleep!

22:53 Jan 26, 2016 

It's not useless, it's informative and interesting. As I said, I never heard of this before and I was hesitant so I faced it in a round-about way until I decided to post the question. I learned something and I can understand it. Thank you all! :0)

22:46 Jan 26, 2016 

Lope de Vega (the poet and dramatist) lived in Toledo, near the church of San Justo, from 1604 to 1610. He joked in a poem that he was driven to move back to Madrid by the sacristans of San Justo constantly ringing the church bells; but for that he would have stayed in Toledo:

"Que a no haber sacristanes en San Justo
Nunca Madrid en su rincón me viera"

22:41 Jan 26, 2016 

Ouch! That's horrible! How can anybody sleep? Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense. "A quarter" to 5, as well as "a quarter" past 5.

22:22 Jan 26, 2016 

"Los cuartos" refers to "los cuartos de hora". In many Spanish towns and villages, church-tower clocks strike the hour, the half hour and every quarter of an hour.

22:21 Jan 26, 2016 

Thanks for coming to the rescue! You got it. Yes, cathedral is there.

22:15 Jan 26, 2016 

Marking is fine too. But it doesn't say cathedral, unless that information is stated elsewhere.

21:53 Jan 26, 2016 

Can you back "mark the quarter hours"? Nobody else is answering my question and I have to hand in my job and this is the only thing holding me back. I have translated "... and the cathedral bells were tolling..." but it's not 100% accurate (I think).

21:47 Jan 26, 2016 

If you lived in certain parts of Europe, you'd be all too familiar with this irritating phenomenon :-)

21:43 Jan 26, 2016 

Then, I'd hate living next door to a church if the bells are going off every 15 minutes. Do churches really do that? I never heard "mark the quarter hours". This is the first time EVER I hear the expression in either language.

21:35 Jan 26, 2016 

That's where most of the hits seem to come from, though that doesn't necessarily prove anything. And of course we say "mark the quarter hours" in English.

21:10 Jan 26, 2016 

I forgot to mention that the text is from Spain. So maybe, this is an expression used in Spanish from Spain?