12pm/12am

P

Purple

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Why do people write/say 12PM and 12AM? This is, by definition, contradictory. It can only be 12 midday or 12 midnight.
Ante Meridian is Latin for "before midday" so it can’t be 12 AM since at 12.00 it is no longer before or after midday. The same is true for PM (Post Meridian, Latin for "after midday").
 
The clock on my oven goes from 23:59 to 24:00 before reverting to 00:01

I can't sleep any nights that I'm up late enough to see it!
 
I was only joking (badly obviously) :(

There is no such time as 24:00. The clock should go from 23:59 to 00:00.

AFAIK
 
DB74 said:
The clock on my oven goes from 23:59 to 24:00 before reverting to 00:01

I can't sleep any nights that I'm up late enough to see it!
Click to expand...
I have 2 ovens side by side. They are both the same make. At midnight one of them says 00:00, the other says 24:00.
For some reason, this gives me a little thrill every time! But it doesn't keep me awake ;)
 
I've got three ovens, and when it's 1 o'clock in the morning, one of them displays 25:00
This keeps me awake.
 
Now I'm going to be awake at 23.59 waiting to see what happens to my 1985 digital clock radio when it turns midnight .:mad:
 
Purple said:
Why do people write/say 12PM and 12AM? This is, by definition, contradictory. It can only be 12 midday or 12 midnight.
Ante Meridian is Latin for "before midday" so it can’t be 12 AM since at 12.00 it is no longer before or after midday. The same is true for PM (Post Meridian, Latin for "after midday").
Click to expand...

I am one of the guilty ones for this. I have a few reasons for writing 12am or 12pm. An example is if I am writing some letter and am describing something that may have happened at 12:07pm, instead of being too exact I describe it as 'shortly after 12pm' such and such happened. I prefer to express it that way rather than 'just after midday' or 'shortly after noon'.
 
TreeTiger said:
I have 2 ovens side by side. They are both the same make. At midnight one of them says 00:00, the other says 24:00.
For some reason, this gives me a little thrill every time! But it doesn't keep me awake ;)
Click to expand...

Do you sit on them or what?
 
Purple said:
Why do people write/say 12PM and 12AM? This is, by definition, contradictory. It can only be 12 midday or 12 midnight.Ante Meridian is Latin for "before midday" so it can’t be 12 AM since at 12.00 it is no longer before or after midday. The same is true for PM (Post Meridian, Latin for "after midday").
Click to expand...

Why not just midday and midnight? ;)
 
Give them back to the poor defenseless animal that's what !

Do you expect it to just lie there like a cloud?
 
One said:
I am one of the guilty ones for this. I have a few reasons for writing 12am or 12pm. An example is if I am writing some letter and am describing something that may have happened at 12:07pm, instead of being too exact I describe it as 'shortly after 12pm' such and such happened. I prefer to express it that way rather than 'just after midday' or 'shortly after noon'.
Click to expand...

Just say shortly after 12 noon?
 
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