• flamingos-cant
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    142 months ago

    There are so many things that we assume are unambiguous that aren’t. Like, my favourite argument starter is asking if 12 AM is midnight or midday.

    • @AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world
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      132 months ago

      There is actually a correct answer here, which is that 12:00 AM is midnight. It’s really stupid because we should just call it 0 AM, but I think it’s because they didn’t really have the concept of zero as a number back when this stuff was decided, and we’ve carried this stupid legacy system with us since then

      • flamingos-cant
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        142 months ago

        Fair. I actually get actively mad when stuff puts me on a 12-hour clock.

        • Ekky
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          102 months ago

          We’re living in 2025, civilization is globalized, most of the world has easy access to electricity and can work even during night. We don’t need two separate 12-hour cycles to separate daytime and nighttime for <insert your local area>. Let’s move on and use a proper time format.

          And a personal pet peeve, please never call it “military time” - that illogical and ugly bastardization of ISO8601.

          • N.E.P.T.R
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            72 months ago

            Ah yes, ISO8601. Just rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it?

            • Ekky
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              52 months ago

              I mean, the more common name is “24-hour clock”, ISO8601 is the standard defining it. Just like it (finally?) has become commonplace to just say “WiFi 6” instead of saying " IEEE 802.11ax".

              • N.E.P.T.R
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                12 months ago

                I was just kidding. I know that no one uses that in common conversation, but it’d be funny of everyone went around saying the standard by its identifier.

        • Ephera
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          42 months ago

          Which makes no sense either, by the way. “PM” means “post meridiem”, literally “after noon”. It’s not twelve hours after noon at noon.

      • flamingos-cant
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        32 months ago

        It’s disputed, that’s why it’s a good argument question. Most style guides say it’s midnight or recommend staying away from it. Just use a 24-hour clock.

    • @chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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      42 months ago

      I think in practice almost no one uses the second definition. If your office has a “biweekly meeting” then it’s definitely a meeting every 2 weeks, occurring on the same day (usually a Monday).

      Two meetings in one week is just two different meetings, not a biweekly meeting.

      • @JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
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        62 months ago

        This is a regional thing, I’m pretty sure. I live in a city that is particularly prone to housing people who didn’t grow up here (really shitty average rent to income ratio) and this is a huge issue in communication constantly