M is for meridian

[Ann Burlingham]

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 11:30 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: M is for meridian
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To put it another way, all the other X:00 times have the same "_M" suffix as
> X:01, X:02...X:59. 5:01 PM comes right after 5:00 PM, not 5:00 AM or 5:00 W
> or anything else. Calling noon 12 PM, and midnight 12 AM, simply extends
> this simple consistency to the top of the dial. Insisting in 21st-century
> English that "PM" can only be applied to times after mid-day -- post
> meridiem (< (*?)medi-diem), and "AM" to times before mid-day, ante meridiem
> -- amounts to etymological pedantry.

I find it ambiguous - 12 comes after 11, so why isn't 12PM midnight?

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