The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed how we use language

Re:The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed h... by delecti on Sunday November 05, 2023 @09:59AM (#38151670)

Noon is the meridiem that AM and PM reference. At precisely 12:00 it is neither before nor after noon, because it is noon. That makes it hard to intuitively know whether the mid-day 12:00-12:59 should be AM or PM (and vice versa with midnight).

It can obviously be learned, but it's something lots of people have trouble with. I was probably in my teens before I finally got that memorized enough to keep them straight. Lots of things happen at 11:59 PM (due dates being the most prominent example) because it's less potentially ambiguous than 12:00 AM the next day, even though it's functionally the same thing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed h... by Jenk on Thursday November 09, 2023 @04:08AM (#38202689)

And yet we have survived with the convention that 12AM is midnight, and 12PM is noon for centuries.

Noon is also not "12:00" - it is the infinitely small moment at the strike of 12:00. Instantaneously it becomes post-meridiem. 12:00:00.0000000000000000000000000000001 is after noon.

[ Parent | on HN ]