The story I heard was that machining wasn't very developed hundreds of years ago, and gears that would allow the hour hand to go round only once every 24 hours were almost impossible to make, so the 12-hour clock was developed.
Carleto From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Martin Vlietstra Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 16:24 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42840] Re: Hot and dry I have been to the Netherlands a number of times (including working there in 1999/2000), and I never saw time displayed digitally in 12 hour format. Did they use "am/pm"? I remember at school I was taught to use "vm/nm" in Afrikaans (voor middag, na middag), but that was in the 1950's and 1960's. BTW, how many people know how we got "am" and "pm" (without looking it up) _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Han Maenen Sent: 02 February 2009 20:30 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42839] Re: Hot and dry My internet provider Wanadoo, since last summer Orange, thought it necessary to use the AM/PM format in its Dutch post box. When answering one of their online questionnaires I asked them to drop that format, but nothing happened for a time. A few days ago Orange started to use a new mail program which reverted to 24 hour format. Very good, indeed. ----- Original Message ----- From: Martin Vlietstra <mailto:[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Monday, 2009, February 02 7:06 Subject: [USMA:42818] Re: Hot and dry Jerry, If you visit http://www.journeycheck.com/southwesttrains/ and browse, you will see that British railway timetables use the 24 hour clock. _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jeremiah MacGregor Sent: 01 February 2009 23:12 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42799] Re: Hot and dry Stephen, What does a military dictatorship have to do with military time? In the US, we call the 24 h time format as military time. It is because the only time it is used in the US is by the military, at least as far as the public is aware of. Jerry _____ From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 1, 2009 1:20:37 PM Subject: [USMA:42782] Re: Hot and dry No. However most 'metric countries' also use the 24h time format. These countries tend not to be military dictatorships though. _____ <snip>
