# 12 noon **URL:** \ **Category:** Scuttlebutt\ **Created:** [March 22, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654 "2022-03-22T17:41:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chief2](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Chief2)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/1 "2022-03-22T17:41:46Z")
Can some one explain to me how 12 noon, 1200 hrs, can be called 12 PM? Post Meridiem (?) would start immediately after 12 noon To me 12 PM should be Midnight 2400 hrs? 12 AM should be noon? Are the media fearmongers (weathermen) right or me? ( I’ve been wrong before!!) ---
**Author:** ![DamnYankee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/damnyankee/32/514_2.png) [@DamnYankee](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/DamnYankee)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/2 "2022-03-22T19:34:03Z")
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s start with anyone with “Chief” in their moniker admitting to being wrong… 🤣 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![Chief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chief2](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Chief2)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/3 "2022-03-22T20:35:08Z")
A couple times in 40 years, and I was arguing with another Chief, and once was with my wife ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/4 "2022-03-23T13:31:53Z")
Google says: From a dissimilation of earlier \*medīdiēs, derived from medius (" **middle**") + diēs (“day”). How would one get midnight from it? We know the Mediterranean Sea - medi middle and diem - seize the day - carpe diem. ---
**Author:** ![neutralobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c0e974/32.png) [@neutralobserver](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/neutralobserver)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/5 "2022-03-23T14:57:27Z")
Well, if you’re arguing with your wife, you’re just wrong, no matter how right you are. ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/6 "2022-03-23T15:04:34Z")
> [@Chief2](#): > > Can some one explain to me how 12 noon, 1200 hrs, can be called 12 PM? I reread you question, you’re asking about the ambiguity wrt labeling midnight and noon. No logic to it, just convention. ---
**Author:** ![Chief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chief2](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Chief2)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/7 "2022-03-23T15:17:50Z")
Actually my question is this.12 noon should be 12 AM? The split second after that is PM, e.g. 1201 PM. 12 o’clock is the last second of the morning. What say you all? ---
**Author:** ![New3M](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/new3m/32/394_2.png) [@New3M](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/New3M)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/8 "2022-03-23T15:21:13Z")
I think Heiwa would have a great explanation for you. ---
**Author:** ![Chief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chief2](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Chief2)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/9 "2022-03-23T15:21:18Z")
Midnight is from medius nocte, and various corruptions thru the years. ---
**Author:** ![Steamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Steamer](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Steamer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/10 "2022-03-23T16:11:48Z")
> [@Chief2](#): > > 12 o’clock is the last second of the morning. What say you all? 11:59:59 is the last second of the _before_ noon, 23:59:59 is the last second of the _after_ noon. 1200 and 2400 are either noon or midnight, you can tell by looking outside, if it’s dark it’s probably night time unless you are near an erupting volcano. AM is the catch all for after midnight but before afternoon, PM is the catch all for afternoon but before midnight. I hope this is not a new concept for you. If it is, contact Heiwa for details about the conspiracy behind the numbers on our clocks. ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/11 "2022-03-23T16:25:27Z")
Yes, I missed that somehow. Isn’t it 100% arbitrary? Someone had to pick one at random so we just roll with it. All my digital stuff is set on 24 hour time. ---
**Author:** ![Chief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chief2](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Chief2)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/12 "2022-03-23T16:35:13Z")
That actually sounds reasonable. The daylight thing is sometimes hard in the Arctic tho. The portholes never worked in my eng/rms anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Steamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Steamer](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Steamer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/13 "2022-03-23T17:09:09Z")
That must have made it difficult to make the noon reports. ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/14 "2022-03-23T17:45:17Z")
Perhaps one could argue that 12:00 is thought of as an interval and not a point in time. In the interval between 12:00 and 12:01 a digital clock displays “12:00”. Even on a typical analog clock the second hand remains on 12:00:00 until 12:00:01 ---
**Author:** ![ocnslr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/54ee81/32.png) [@ocnslr](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/ocnslr)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 3:41am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/15 "2022-03-24T03:41:12Z")
Well, did this century start on 01 Jan 2000, or a year later on 01 Jan 2001? Certainly the latter, unless there was a year “zero” at the beginning. And PM should start after 1200. ---
**Author:** ![Chief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chief2](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Chief2)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 10:46am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/16 "2022-03-24T10:46:25Z")
01 Jan 2001 nd PM should start after 1200 hrs. Ye-e-s-s ---
**Author:** ![tengineer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@tengineer1](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/tengineer1)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 11:00am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/17 "2022-03-24T11:00:35Z")
Why can’t 12 noon just be 1200 and 12 hours later the time will be 2400? [I’ll probably regret asking that] ---
**Author:** ![jdcavo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/jdcavo/32/108_2.png) [@jdcavo](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/jdcavo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 11:44am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/18 "2022-03-24T11:44:08Z")
> [@tengineer1](#): > > Why can’t 12 noon just be 1200 and 12 hours later the time will be 2400? Or just noon and midnight if you don’t want to use 24 hour “military” time? ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 12:05pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/19 "2022-03-24T12:05:23Z")
The standard ISO 8601-1:2019 midnight is only referred to as 00:00 which corresponds with the beginning of the calendar day. Use of 24:00 is disallowed. ---
**Author:** ![Chief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chief2](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Chief2)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 12:21pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654/20 "2022-03-24T12:21:51Z")
Noon and midnight or the 24hr clock are fine with real people. Its just media weathermen that don’t get it and of course they influence the “unwashed” [Next page](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/12-noon/62654.md?page=2)