I utterly abhor the illiterate construction, “12:00 p.m.” used to refer to Noon. “P.M.” means “Post Meridian” and Noon IS the Meridian; it cannot be after itself. Now, there may be some weak argument for referring to Midnight as “12:00 a.m.” because in one sense it is “ante meridian” but since it is both the beginning of one day while also serving as the end of the previous day, Midnight is simply better. But there is no excuse under the Sun for “12:00 p.m.” to be used to refer to Noon. None. Anyone who uses it deserves 50 lashes with a sharp second hand.
"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
I believe the end of one day is 11:59 p.m., not midnight.
That’s just my thinkin’.
And oh yes… yes you are being picky. 🙂
That’s one of the interesting quirks about how many folks think, or don’t think, about how time is described. I’m with Mel on this one, better to say it’s one minute left in the morning or one minute into the afternoon; same at night or the earliest moments of morning, keeps the weak minded happy.
That’s why there is the 24 hour clock.
Then try to explain Zulu time to someone who has never served.
Indeed, John. Try to explain it to the normally innumerate general public and get a blank stare. For example, when I began to read your comment, it was about 12:50am Sunday (GMT–or in military jargon, Zulu Time). Heck, it’s not really hard. I absorbed it simply by being for a short time in the sciences and by also just being around a lot of military. But it does take a little baseline knowledge to translate from various tiumezones, and in military use, the ability to could to 24, something lacking in many who do not have that many fingers and toes…
I guess I shall line up for my lashes. I knew the meaning of A.M. and P.M. but I still refer to noon as 12:00 P.M. But then, I suppose that’s because I typically handle time on computers and need a form that is readily parseable by simple date/time handling routines.
Yep, Perri. The simple binary world just does NOT accurately reflect the real world, no matter how well one builds one’s model. (And, BTW, that’s just one of many, many problems the Church of Anthropogenic Climate Scare-ism won’t admit about its models. ;-))