why do they say o'clock
March 21, 2014 Daven Hiskey 7 comments. The practice of saying âoâclockâ is simply a remnant of simpler times when clocks werenât very prevalent and people told time by a variety of means, depending on where they were and what references were available.onus Fact: 1  The word âclockâ is thought to have originally derived from the Medieval Latin âclocca,â meaning âbell,â referencing the ringing of the bells on early town clocks, which would let everyone in a community know what time it was.