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Q: Time Table ( Answered,   3 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Time Table
Category: Miscellaneous
Asked by: mahern-ga
List Price: $5.00
Posted: 04 Jul 2006 10:44 PDT
Expires: 03 Aug 2006 10:44 PDT
Question ID: 743294
Is midnight am, pm or is it just midnight. Also is noon am, pm or just
noon? Thank You
Answer  
Subject: Re: Time Table
Answered By: keystroke-ga on 04 Jul 2006 10:54 PDT
 
This is a very confusing subject!

Midnight is usually referred to as "12am" and noon is usually referred
to as "12pm." However, neither are actually am or pm. AM time starts
at 12:01am, and PM time starts at 12:01 pm.  This is from this
website:

http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/time.asp

The Wikipedia article is also helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock

The two times are meant simply as reference tables to make timetelling
easier. "Ante meridiem" and "post meridiem" (before noon and after
noon) do not apply to midnight and noon.
Comments  
Subject: Re: Time Table
From: myoarin-ga on 04 Jul 2006 16:00 PDT
 
You might be interested in this question:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=724627

I assume that the assigning 12pm to noon and 12am to midnight have a
certain logic, since the minute times in the "12" hour following each
is pm and am, respectively.
Subject: Re: Time Table
From: darrenw-ga on 05 Jul 2006 23:58 PDT
 
That's not right. AM times does not start at 12:01AM nor does PM start
at 12:01PM. It starts at 00:00 (midnight) and 12:00 (noon). Otherwise
at 5 seconds part midnight you would be still in PM time from the
previous day. If this is not correct all PCs are reporting the time
incorrectly. The web references you gave in the answer say nothing to
back up your statement about this.

If you want to be really technical midnight and midday occur in a
brief instance and then it is no longer midnight or midday. At 1
second past midnight it is no longer midnight. At 1 nanosecond past
midnight it is no longer midnight but it is still AM time not PM time.
Subject: Re: Time Table
From: keystroke-ga on 07 Jul 2006 16:12 PDT
 
My answer was right. I meant 12:00:01 instead of 12:01. A typo does
not merit what darrenw-ga said.  He is wrong.  My sources back me up
adequately on this.   From my first page:

"Each and every day begins exactly at midnight, and each A.M. begins
precisely thereafter. Similarly, each P.M. begins immediately after
noon. No meaning can be assigned to 12:00 A.M. (00:00 A.M.), or to
12:00 P.M. (00:00 P.M.). They are merely reference points meant to
simplify timetables for us."

and from Wikipedia:

"The literal meaning of the terms ante meridiem (before noon) and post
meridiem (after noon) are not applicable at exactly noon or midnight.

"However, it has become common practice in countries that use the
system (such as the United States) to designate noon as 12:00 p.m and
midnight as 12:00 a.m."

One should take the time to READ my sources before criticizing them,
as they do back me up on what I said.  A typo does not mean that I am
completely wrong.

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