CrispyDairy OP t1_iycbnuo wrote on November 30, 2022 at 9:48 AM

Reply to comment by remarkablemayonaise in eli5 Are GMT and UTC timezones somehow different? If so, how? by CrispyDairy

Ok, so that last part just means that GMT and UTC are basically the same time, just measured differently?

boersc t1_iycd8x5 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 10:12 AM

The definition is different, in practice, they are the same thing.

Metabolical t1_iydew6x wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:03 PM

I'm waiting for reddit to chime in with all the "they are like..." similes.

They are like Sticky Notes and Post-It (tm) notes.

ticuxdvc t1_iydy5jf wrote on November 30, 2022 at 6:08 PM

It's like saying, little Timmy is 1 meter tall. Does that mean that Timmy's mom is 1.6 Timmies tall? Technically she is, but it's better practice to measure Timmy's family members in meters instead of Timmies, and say his mom is 1.6 meters tall.

GMT just happens to be UTC+0. They are "the same time", but one of them is the actual measurement tool (UTC), the other is the measurement value as measured by that tool (GMT); in the same way as a meter stick is the tool, and the 1-meter tall Timmy is the measured value.