Here's an interesting thought for the day.
Do you use 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.?
I personally try to always use noon or midnight.
But then another question is, if you use midnight, which day does it refer to?
If I say I'm leaving at midnight on Feb. 24, do you meet me around 11:55 on Feb. 24 or Feb. 25. Is it the end of the day I mention or the start of the day I mention?
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3 comments:
There should be no possible confusion on this issue. 12AM is midnight because the last minute of the day runs from 11.59pm until midnight - no matter how many seconds one could write after 11.59pm, it remains 11.59pm in hour/minute language until midnight is reached. The hour change from 11 to 12 shows that at midnight, one has moved into a new hour. If midnight were 12pm, then one minute past midnight would be 12.01pm, two minutes after midnight would be 12.02pm but the hour numeral 12 at midnight shows that one has moved from the last hour of the previous day into the first hour of the new day, and therefore if there be no minutes past midnight then one is in the first minute of the morning.
The same argument applies at noon the other way round.
I have issued people's insurance certificates and ALWAYS used 12AM and 12PM and I think that the people who say that to use AM or PM after 12 are wrong because the precise moments of midnight and noon are IN the first second (and consequently minute and hour) of the morning and the precise moment of NOON (although neither before nor after itself when viewed from the standpoint of a moment within its own right) is IN the first measure of the AFTERNOON - the answer to the confusion is resolved simply by asking oneself 'what MEASURES to noon and midnight belong to (hours, minutes, seconds etc.) and then the answer is clear. 12AM is midnight and 12PM is noon and this is generally accepted among the general public.
Further to my previous comment, re-garding the question as to which day does midnight belong, I reply the new day. If one states that one is leaving at midnight on February 24, one should leave about 11.55pm on February 23 is the midnight terminating the 23 February is IN AND ON 24 February and in no way connected to neither the 23 nor 25 February.
Two corrections to my previous comment (1) 'Regarding' should not be hyphenated (2) 'AS' NOT 'IS' the midnight terminating 23...
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