David Wright wrote: > > What surprised me is the use of 12am and 12pm in the States. When > I was at grammar school (in the days of 12hour times), you lost > marks for writing either of these contradictions. It was either > 12 noon, 12 midnight, or 12 o'clock (where there's no ambiguity).
12 o'clock is the only one of those which is ambiguous. > Even more astonishing is the fact that the US Government switched > their am/pm meanings sometime between 2000 and 2008, which shows > just how ambiguous they are. There is only one sensible interpretation: If 11:59 AM is two minutes before 12:01 PM, then 12:00 is PM. If 11:59 PM is two minutes before 12:01 AM, then 12:00 is AM. The problem stems from 12 actually indicating what anybody sensible would consider 0. -dsr-