On Wed, Mar 10, 1999 at 11:17:02PM -0600, John Goerzen wrote:
> John Hasler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > I wrote:
> > > 12:00 noon, please. 12:00 pm is midnight...
> >
> > Pann McCuaig writes:
> > > I don't think so. 12:00pm is noon
> >
> > PM stands for post meridiem, which means after noon. Thus 12PM is 12 hours
> > after noon, or midnight.
>
> No. By your logic, 12:01 PM is 12 hours and one minute after noon.
>
> 12:00 PM is noon, because the time switches from AM to PM at noon.
> Simple, eh?
John Hasler is correct. The point is there is NO 12 am or 12 pm. As he
explained, am means 'ante meridiem'. This `meridiem' is a circle drawn from
the North point in the horizon to the South point, passing thru the zenith.
Zenith is the point directly overhead for any given location. At some point
in time (near 12:00), the sun crosses this circle. This is (local) noon.
The Sun is neither before or after the meridian, it's on the meridian.
Although it might seen as a logical conclusion to say that 12:00 pm is noon,
the argument doesn't hold, because `pm' has a precise definition. It means
"when any given star has _crossed_ the meridian"
Marcelo
