Han Maenen wrote: > This is its English speaking heritage that supports and >maintains am/pm and ifp in Canada. The fact that Quebec >uses 24 hout format and also seems to be > more metric is proof of that.
A reasonable theory. Note that the UK uses 24 hour format only for all transportation purposes that I am aware of. It is almost always used for all other 'official' timetable purposes. It appears to be the default on office computer systems. I think Microsoft even does this automatically as part of UK regional settings in their latest OS. Brits do use it in speech and appear to be almost bilingual between the two formats. However, it is certainly less prevalent (in writing and in speech) than in the rest of Europe. For example, car park tickets are 24 hour format but zoning traffic signs are am/pm. Brits will usually say 'nineteen hundred' and never 'nineteen' (as is common practice in other languages. I am often surprised that some Brits will see a sign indicating a flight at 19:30 and will go to the trouble of translating this to say "Our flight is at 7:30". I did notice when travelling on British Airways flights from the USA that the tickets were in 24 hour format. Presumably that is how some Americans may get their first exposure. Interestingly enough, I have even come across a 30 hour format in my TV work...
