Weird Hours – When are they?

Question

I am reading one of P.G. Wodehouse's cricket stories and I came across these words.

Sharples, our fast bowler, will insist on sitting up to weird hours on the night before an important match, smoking strong tobacco and drinking whisky and soda; with the natural result that his pace on the next day lasts for a couple of overs, and then fizzles out, and he continues with slow medium.

Why "weird hours"? When are they? I think after midnight or is it the dawn? I couldn't find such an idiom,so it might be a metaphor.

Answer 1

It's simply a reference to a period of time when the majority of people would be either very close to sleep or sound asleep. A more common variation of the expression would be "ungodly hours".

Weird hours fits better when describing activity that seems suspicious. For example, in real life my neighbours probably all think I'm a little strange, because I work from home and I'm sometimes awake for two days straight, sitting out back in the dark behind my home smoking, wearing my very large hooded black jacket. I'm not actually doing anything bad, but the fact that it's pitch black and 3 AM is what makes it weird to an outside observer. It's 3 AM, why isn't this guy sleeping? What's he up to?

The term "ungodly hours" is more commonly used when describing an event or practice that demands attention when one would usually be at rest or sleeping. For example, someone describing their new job, which requires them to be awake and getting ready at 5 AM might say "my job has me getting up at ungodly hours."