From: Jack Flash (jack.flash@inbox.com)
Date: Sat Mar 29 2008 - 09:09:19 ART
Hi Navid,
I guess as with all things like this, everyone needs to agree on the
standard and stick to it. I guess it's largley arbritary. It seems like
it's a common source of confusion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock
-------------------------------------quote from wikipedia
"The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
</wiki/The_American_Heritage_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language> (Fourth
Edition, 2000) has a similar usage note on this topic: "Strictly
speaking, /12 a.m./ denotes midnight, and /12 p.m./ denotes noon, but
there is sufficient confusion over these uses to make it advisable to
use /12 noon/ and /12 midnight/ where clarity is required."^[9]
<#cite_note-8>
However, the use of "12:00 a.m." for midnight and "12:00 p.m." for noon
is contrary to the /U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual/^[10]
<#cite_note-9> which recommends the opposite: "12 p.m." for midnight and
"12 a.m." (formerly "12 m.") for noon.
------------------------------------------
Navid Daghighi wrote:
> Hi,
>
> When configuring a key chain, I had the following surprise :
>
> ...
> ...11:57 AM = 3 minutes before noon
> ...11:58 AM = 2 minutes before noon
> ...11:59 AM = 1 minute before noon
> ...12:00 AM = midnight
>
> just wondering if any native english speaker could explain the logic
> behind this sudden bump in time ?
>
> it would be too bad to loose 2 or 3 points because you thought 12:00
> AM was noon, or 12:00PM was midnight.
>
> thanks
> Navid
>
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