Re: Do you think 12:00pm is noon or midnight?

On 11 Jul, 02:18, Harlan Messinger <hmessinger.removet...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
jenn...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
When you hear 12:00pm, do you first think of noon, or midnight?

I was surprised some people think it means * when I'd assume anyone
meant * if they said 12:00pm.

* = noon/midnight

If you are interested, you can vote here:
http://www.buzzdash.com/?page=buzzbite&BB_id=27277

(It's just a common poll site, no gimmicks, just click on noon or
midnight in the box.)

You might as well take a vote on what the capital of Illinois is. Even
if a majority thinks it's Chicago, it doesn't make that the correct answer.

The abbreviation "a.m." (with variations in upper case and/or omitting
the periods) stands for "ante meridiem", Latin for "before noon".
Likewise, "p.m." stands for "post meridiem" = "after noon".

Therefore, the instant known as "noon" is by definition neither a.m. nor
p.m. It is 12:00 noon. Likewise, the other instant known as 12:00 is
12:00 midnight, neither a.m. nor p.m.

However, while the *instant* during the daytime that is 12:00 *exactly*
is noon, the time 12:00 used when telling time in hours and minutes
represents the entire *minute*, *starting* at the instant of noon, and
leading up to, but not including, the instant this is exactly one minute
after noon (that is, 12:01 p.m.). Though this minute begins with the
instant of noon, an instant has no duration, so effectively the entire
minute known as 12:00 lies after that instant--after noon, post
meridiem, p.m. This is a matter of fact, not opinion.

Similarly, since the instant known as "midnight" divides p.m. from a.m.
on the other side of the day, the nightime *minute* known as 12:00,
occurring as it does after the *instant* known as 12:00 midnight, is on
the a.m. side.

Does 12:00 necessarily mean the period 12:00:00 to 12:00:59.999...
rather than 11:59:30 to 12:00:29.999...? In other words, does a time
in whole minutes necessarily represent a truncation rather than a
rounding of the true time?

As for many of the others, my preference is to use 24 hour time for
anything requiring precision. Reserve 12 hour time for casual chat.

--
Seán Ó Leathlóbhair


.

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