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by AnimalMuppet 3085 days ago
No it doesn't. It makes exactly the same amount of sense to put 12:00 with 12:01 as it does with 11:59, because noon is not post meridian in exactly the same way that is not ante meridian.
3 comments

Actually, it does make more sense to group them. You see that 12 at the beginning of 12:00 and 12:01?

Most kids in the US are taught that 12 PM is noon and 12 AM is midnight in elementary school. Though many understand this by first grade, I have been surprised to encounter native English speaking 40+ year old adults that still do not remember this. "Meet me at lunch at 12 AM!"

> because noon is not post meridian in exactly the same way that is not ante meridian.

That was already implied. I think you're confused about what kbutler was stating. The full argument goes like this:

1. by itself, 12:00 is not post meridian

2. by itself, 12:00 is not ante meridian

3. therefore we must choose which label to use on other merits

4. without 1 or 2, it makes more sense to lump it with the time that's a single digit off by one, and not the time that's many digits off by many

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On top of that, for 100.0000% of the time the clock reads "12:00" around noon, it's PM. Even if you defined the moment of noon to be AM, it would be impossible to ever catch a clock saying 12:00 during the final moments of AM.

If it were just

11am 12am 1pm

That would make sense.

But it would be

11:59:59.9999999999am

12:00:00.0000000000am

12:00:00.0000000001pm

So incrementing the arbitrarily least significant unit would require toggling the most significant unit with no other digits changing.

And if you ever saw a clock displaying 12am, it should actually be p.m. by the time the light reached your eye.

Makes more sense to increment the a to p at the same time you roll over all those 99s and 59s to 0, then 12 is consistent however precise your clock is.