Expression "way past" (I'm way past my teen years)

[learning_english]

I'm way past my teen years.

I would say, "I am past my teen years". I wonder why "way" is used here.

Please help me.
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Please let me know if I have made any mistakes in any of my sentences.

[Alan]

Hi,

This addition of 'way' suggests that it is a long time after the teen years. Another example: It is now very late and it is way past midnight.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Good Bye Summer

[learning_english]

[Alan]

Hi,

You've got the sense of it but I have to make some amendments:

1. Now I am way past my childhood.

2. I told you to send the documents by morning and now it is gone 4 o' clock. Do you still think it is not way past morning?

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Indirect Speech

[Yankee]

.
"It is gone 4 o'clock" ?
Nobody would ever say that in the US and I doubt that the precise meaning would be understood here. Though this may be idiomatically valid in the UK, it is not used in American English.

We'd say "It is past/after 4 o'clock" in the US.
.
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[learning_english]

Can I say, "time is past/gone 4 o'clock"?
_________________
Please let me know if I have made any mistakes in any of my sentences.