• zqps@sh.itjust.works
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    14 days ago

    I don’t strictly mix them up anymore. But the confusing part is to switch from pm to am at midnight, but still use 12 instead of 0. Which day is it then?? The same day according to “12”, but the next day according to “am”.

    And so you’re going 11pm -> 12am -> 1am. That’s the part that has never made sense, and never will.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      14 days ago

      it’s not zero because you don’t start at zero, you start at 12, it’s an offset. With a 24 hour system the hour 24 doesn’t actually exist, it’s 00:00-23:00 that’s it, with 12 hour clocks it’s 1-12, twice.

      It’s just a shifting of where the scale starts, that’s why it confuses you, because you don’t think about it that way.

      • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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        14 days ago

        I know it’s not zero and that’s where the offset is, but my point is it ought to be zero and there shouldn’t be any offset. A scale doesn’t start at 12, numbers have a meaning.

        Using zero makes far more sense not just in how am/pm is indicated, but in how we actually think about time. Nobody considers 00:45 = 12:45am as part of the previous day since it’s clearly after midnight. Using 12am is just an outdated convention established by people who counted hours only on a per-day basis and to whom the concept of a “zeroth hour” seemed irrational.

    • macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      While I agree it is strange, I cannot ever seeing this be a problem. I have never meet someone that has ever had an issue understanding how a clock works. Maybe you were taught late?

      • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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        14 days ago

        I was taught reading clocks very early, in a mixed digital/analog setting, with the digital clocks using 24h format starting at 00:00, and nobody using am/pm. You should know that “12am” is not “how a clock works” universally, just one way of reading it.