Prenez le temps de réfléchir à la question :

Are noon and midnight
                     12 a.m. or 12 p.m.? 
 

Answer:
 

This is perhaps the trickiest time question of them all. The answer is that the terms 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. are wrong and should not be used.
To illustrate this, consider that "a.m" and "p.m." are abbreviations for "ante meridiem" and "post meridiem." They mean "before noon" and "after noon," respectively. Noon is neither before or after noon; it is simply noon. Therefore, neither the "a.m." nor "p.m." designation is correct. On the other hand, midnight is both 12 hours before noon and 12 hours after noon. Therefore, either 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. could work as a designation for midnight, but both would be ambiguous.

            To get around the problem, the terms 12 noon and 12 midnight should be used instead of 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. For example, a bank might be open on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. Or a grocery  store might be open daily until midnight. If you are making schedules, times such as 12:01 a.m. (1 minute after midnight), or 11:59 p.m. (1 minute before midnight) can also eliminate ambiguity.
This method is used by the railroads and airlines.
 

All I can tell you is based upon 15 years in the travel field and
25 years in the typesetting/editing field.
There is -- in these fields -- NO 12:00am or 12:00pm.  There is, as you
suggest 12 noon and 12 midnight.
No bus, train, or plane leaves a 12am/pm.  Most leave at 12:01 to prevent
this mixup.
This means -- in communication of any type -- if you want to express
these terms without any ambivalence, you use "noon" or "midnight."
Very simple and logical editorial decision.

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[o0o]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
Lee Daniel Quinn - Retired Communications Consultant
Editor of: "Quinn's Devious Dictionary"
           "Funny you should say that..." &
           "Gentle Humor"
 Quinn's Devious Dictionary "A" section found at:
          HTTP://206.20.13.1/~words

---

Twelve o'clock noon is correctly written 12:00 m., but NEVER 12:00 a.m. which
means twelve before(ante) noon and NEVER 12:00 p.m. which means twelve hours
after(post) noon.   Please remember that "m." is the abbreviation for the
Latin word meridiem meaning noon.

However, twelve o'clock midnight is a different issue entirely, for it is a
point of division between two successive days.  For example, the midnight
separating, say, Tuesday from Wednesday is actually neither Tuesday nor
Wednesday.  It is a point of transition between the two.  It could be stated
as either 12:00 a.m.(Wednesday) or 12:00 p.m. (Tuesday).

Do what the insurance companies do to avoid this ambiguity.  Their contracts
begin and end at 12:01 a.m.

J. C. Detchon (Jocardet@aol.com)

---

Forgive me for being unpedantic, but if I (at 70 years of age) read
about something that was to happen at "12:00 m" I would assume you
meant "12:00 midnight."
Remember -- no matter what you tell your class, you have an obligation
to communicate clearly -- not accurately.

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[o0o]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
Lee Daniel Quinn - Retired Communications Consultant

---

Don't get to help much on the words and phrases, just observe and learn,
but perhaps I can help on this query since I taught the stuff.  "am" and
pm" stand for "ante and post meridiem" .... before and after midday.
Therefore, there is no 12 am or 12 pm, only 12 noon and 12 midnight.  An
analogy I used with my students was that if you are on the top of a fence,
which side are you on?.... neither.  Similarly, at 12 noon you are neither
am or pm, but "meridiem" or noon, and at that one instant where the Sun is
on your meridian (if you go by local solar time) or the central meridian of
your time zone for us standard time folks.  Hope this helps.

Jerry D. Wilson  (jwilson@ais-gwd.com)
 
 

Catachresis (or changing words)

   Some words in the English language have changed and lost their original meaning, here are a few examples which could surprise you ...

AWFUL : James II on first seeing St Paul's Cathedral called it "amusing, awful, and artificial"
            = pleasing to look at, awe inspiring, and full of skilful artifice.
 
 

HARLOT used to mean "boy".

COUNTERFEIT was "a legitimate copy"

GIRL , in Chaucer's time, was a young person (male or female)

MANUFACTURE, from the Latin root of "hand", used to mean "something made by hand"

NICE:  This is a much used, worn-out word which isn't surprising when you know its history ...
              It was first recorded in 1290 and it meant "stupid and foolish".  Seventy five years later, it was used by Chaucer to mean "lascivious" or "wanton".  Then over the next 400 years, at various times, it meant: "extravagant, strange, elegant, slothful, unmanly, luxurious, modest, slight, precise, thin, sly, discriminating, dainty - and by 1769 - pleasant and agreable.

TELL once meant "to count" - this meaning died out but we can still find it the term "bank teller".
 
 
 
 
 

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