Why do people write 0:00AM? What does it mean?
Or sometimes they write 0:00PM. Or even 12:00AM. Or 12:00PM. I mean…what do they mean? Is it midnight or noon? I mean, AM means before noon, right? And PM means after noon, right? But 0:00 is midnight. And 12:00 is noon–or midnight. Okay, 0:01AM means something. But 0:00AM? Whichever way you look at it, noon is noon and midnight is midnight! How can you be after noon at noon? It doesn’t make sense. Or before midnight at midnight? Suppose they say: “I’ll see you at 12:00AM on Tuesday.” Now you’re stumped. Is that noon or midnight? And if it’s midnight, is it between Monday and Tuesday or between Tuesday and Wednesday? I mean, really! I suppose logically they must mean between Monday and Tuesday. But it’s not clear! And maybe they mean noon. And I’d hate to turn up at midnight when they meant noon. Or worse still at noon when they meant midnight. Why do they do that?
June 15th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
to differentiate goats from sheep is always important, many of us could have an excuse for messing up with time if we would n’t have that better expalantion, no way!
June 16th, 2008 at 2:00 am
what i understand from this is am(morning) is from 1am(people can say still midnight) to 12am (lunch time) and PM (Noon) from 1300(after luch) to 12pm midnight.
Regards
Nina
June 16th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Yes, it is indeed a problem. Yet I don’t think people have any misundestanding about that. There are something which grammar can not explain, as people don’t speak according to grammar.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:34 am
well here i want to say that mostely in our soceity many people need to be understand an for that they have set their mind to know that it should be written for understanding and specially for those people its really help who are sitting at home and watching TV they can catch easily the time of their favourite programe.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:39 am
It is incorrect to write 0:00p.m. The use of 0:00 implies a 24-hour clock system, while the use of A.M. and P.M. implies a 12-hour clock system. Therefore, it is absolutely wrong to use both together.
The 12-hour clock divides the day into two parts, 12 hours each. The middle of the day (midday) is the twelfth hour, noon, or the meridiem. A.M. refers to the hours prior to midday (Latin: ante meridiem) while P.M. refers to the hours after midday (Latin: post meridiem). Since the meridien is thought to occur right at the exact second of the 12th and 24th hours, it is most common to hear the times referred to as 12 noon or 12 midnight, rather than using a.m. or p.m. However, to be clear, 12:01p.m. refers to the time just after (post) the 12th hour, that is, the first minute after midday (noon); while 12:01a.m. refers to the first minute of the new day, therefore prior to (ante) midday, that is, just after midnight (after the 24th hour of the previous day).
The 24-hour clock does not need a reference to the middle of the day, the meridiem, which is why the suffix a.m. or p.m. used with this system is completely unnecessary, incorrect, and confusing. So you are wrong to say that “Okay, 0:01AM means something”. It actually doesn’t mean anything at all for the reasons I have given. 0:01 as written implies the 24-hour clock (although it would probably be written 00:01 instead). It refers to the start of the new day. The equivalent in the 12-hour clock would be 12:01 midnight (or 12:01a.m.).
So if your friends ask you to meet up at 12:00a.m., it should be very clear to you by now that you would be left standing all alone and feeling silly if you showed up at midday, noon, 12:01 p.m., the 12th hour… They are asking you to show up at the first hour of the day, which is just after (or right at) midnight.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am
AM:mean befor the midnight,and PM means after noon.
June 16th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
When we use the 24 hour clock there is no need to write AM or PM.
eg. 01.00 = 1 AM, one o’clock in the morning
17.00 = 5 PM, five o’clock in the afternoon
23.00 = 11 PM, eleven o’clock in the evening, or at night
11.00 = 11 AM, eleven o’clock in the morning
therefore 00.00 = midnight, or twelve o’clock at night
June 16th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
No, Francisco…
A.M. means AFTER midnight (and before noon) and P.M. means after noon (and before midnight).
June 16th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
When some one points to AM or PM, then he says time in a 12 format, means you cant say 13:00PM (13 belongs to 24 format), of course it is meaningless. but using 0:00AM will logically point to midnight. dont forget to think about seconds. 11:59:59 PM is at midnight and when we use a 12 format there shouldnt be any 12, so one second after that it will be 0:00:00:01 AM, which the last part is one percent of a secont. thus when you think more precisely it’s easy to find out what does 0:00AM mean.
June 16th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I think the best way to avoid confusion is to write:
12:00 hrs (GMT) to mean midday, and
00:00 hrs (GMT) to express midnight.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
it is really a good discussion .chilren must be be taught and trained what to use at an appropriate time because time is really important for all of us..
June 16th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Hullo Dear Sir,
1st of all, let me know whether you are just playing with words to complicate things for us; because there is no difference btw the two:12pm or 00:00pm. 2nd, I think if you opted for a 24 hours time format you will always have the 00:00 shown in your computer’s or mobile’s standby. whereas, if you adopted the am/pm format you will always have an am or a pm added to the written form of a given hour from 1 to 12. so it is up to thee to choose the time format that eases your mind. And let them “they ” write what they want, because it does’t make sense if you bear in mind the destructive activity of time.
And let me tell you of a verse that i appreciate too much:”so long as man can breathe, so long as eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee.”
Are you and teacher Joe one person?????
June 16th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/time-day-night.htm
June 20th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Use the 24 hour clock 0000 - (forget the colon : it is confusing)
1200 is midday or noon - (twelve hundred hours)
0000 is midnight - (zero hundred hours)
The author uses too much text and it is complicated to read, sorry.
12:00 PM is regarded as midday (because it is leading into PM)
12:00 AM is regarded as midnight (because it is leading into AM)
Keep it simple - just learn this!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Hey Andy - I think you got mixed up. It should be:
12:00 PM is regarded as midnight (because it is the end of PM)
12:00 AM is regarded as midday (because it is the end of AM)
And another thing. Why did you use the colon? You just said it was confusing
June 20th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I think we shouldn’t use AM or PM. Just mention 00:00 ( midnight - start a new day ) and 12:00 ( midday )
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:17 am
its really confusing!Everyone seems to have a diffrent opinion.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
what a loser
June 28th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Hey Osama there is no loser around, we are just exchenging our ideas, so feel better out there man,
July 4th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
In my country we never use AM or PM,we only say 00:00 (midnight) and 12:00(midday)
July 11th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Dear all
It is a good time-pass discussion when you folks dont have anything better to do.
I agree with Gerberth. 12:00 pm is noon and 12:00 am is midnight. This is how we learnt and children are taught all over the world.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:45 am
does it really matter?
I suppose usually nothing special would happen at these time!!!!!!!!!