Does anybody really know what time it is? Shakespeare deals with the situation where someone who is fundamentally uninterested in everyday practical matters – like the time of day – inquires about them as if they do care. We can think about practically any politician pretending to care about the budget (what time is it? Late, much too late), or, say, Leonardo DeCaprio pretending to care about the environment while cruising in his superyacht (what time is it? Again long past time to drop such hypocrisy.)

And here is Shakespeare’s take, with Prince Hal excoriating Falstaff for pretending to care about what time it is, when the Prince knows full well what he really cares about:

Falstaff: “Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?”

Prince: “Thou art so fat-witted with drinking of old
sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and
sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast
forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst
truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with
the time of the day? Unless hours were cups of
sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues
of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping-houses,
and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in 1
flame-colored taffeta, I see no reason why thou
shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time
of the day.”

Falstaff: “Indeed, you come near me now, Hal.”