M is for meridian

[Jonathan Lighter]

The only sensible thing would be to use "12M" for midnight and "12N" for
noon, but it may be too late.

I recently had the "12PM" problem in making an airline reservation online.
No live person in the vicinity was certain what it might mean.

JL


On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 11:27 AM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      M is for meridian
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To me, 12M means noon, but I can see that for some it might suggest
> midnight.  Nevertheless, to use 12PM to mean noon & 12AM to mean
> midnight strikes me as totally absurd.  I see these usages frequently.
> ( It came to mind today when there are announcements of many demos &
> rallies marking the anniversary of the Iraq invasion.  No doubt the
> contexts will disambiguate the mistakes.)
> AM
>
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