I got a call from the dentist’s office to confirm my appointment to have my teeth cleaned on Thursday. When I checked my calendar, it turned out that my dental appointment conflicted with a meeting that I knew I wouldn’t be able to get out of, so I asked if I could reschedule.

“The soonest we could get you in is on August sixteenth at two-fifty, or ten to three,” she told me.

I thought she was offering me a choice of times, one appointment in the afternoon and the other in the morning, but I wasn’t sure I heard the one in the morning right. “I’m sorry,” I said, “what was that again?”

“Two-fifty, ten to three,” she repeated.

This time I thought she was offering me 2:50, or any time between ten and three, but that didn’t make sense because 2:50 was between ten and three. “I’m sorry, I must be about half asleep still,” I apologized. “One more time, please?”

“Two-fifty, ten to three.”

My brain was completely scrambled at this point: What the hell? Is she offering me two appointments AT THE SAME TIME?

“I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand.”

“Two-fifty,” she said, very slowly and loudly, as if she were talking to a foreigner, “or ten minutes until three.”

When the nickel finally dropped I felt pretty foolish, but after I hung up I was puzzled again: Why the hell did she feel the need to repeat the same time in two different ways? Is that weird, or is it just me?