Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

No, but it's been a colloquial expression for long enough that "figuratively" makes it seem like the clock actually isn't ticking.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.