Gene: I posted my correction last night. I saw your partial correction just now.
Just check your Merriam-Webster (or other good American dictionary). It's meridiem. It's from the Latin, of course. Remember that, in Latin, the word endings change depending on case (as they also do in German, for example). Merriam-Webster uses "a.m." rather than "am." My own preference is for the latter. My real preference, of course, is for the ISO 8601 Standard for dates and times (i.e., I prefer the 24-hour form). You may get a cigar, but not from me. <g> Bill -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:39 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42857] Re: Hot and dry Bill, I did post my correction *before* your correction of my error. Do I get my cigar? I'm uncertain about the spellings meridiem and meridian? Is the former Latin and Oxford English, and the latter modern American English? Gene. ---- Original message ---- >Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 09:14:21 -0800 >From: "Bill Potts" <[email protected]> >Subject: RE: [USMA:42853] Re: Hot and dry >To: <[email protected]>, "'U.S. Metric Association'" <[email protected]> > >Gene: > >Close, but no cigar: am is ante (not anti) meridiem and pm is post meridiem. > >Ante means before. Anti means against. Compare with antebellum, which is >used to identify the era prior to the Civil War, or with ante-natal, which >is the non-American-English equivalent of prenatal. > >Bill >________________________________ >Bill Potts, FBCS >WFP Consulting >1848 Hidden Hills Drive >Roseville, CA 95661-5804 >Phone: 916 773-3865 (preferred) >Cell: 916 302-7176 >Excellence matters > > >-----Original Message----- >From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf >Of [email protected] >Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 08:53 >To: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: [USMA:42853] Re: Hot and dry > > >am is "anti meridian" (before crossing of overhead sun). > >pm is "post meridian" (after crossing of overhead sun). > >That is the meaning of am and pm; originating with early astronomers I >suppose. > >Gene. > >---- Original message ---- >>Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 21:24:15 -0000 >>From: "Martin Vlietstra" <[email protected]> >>Subject: [USMA:42840] Re: Hot and dry >>To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> >>... >> >> BTW, how many people know how we got "am" and "pm" >> (without looking it up) >
