[sf-lug] 12 am/pm controversy

[Alex Kleider]

I wonder if the 12 am/pm controversy is analogous to the question of what day it is  _ON_ the international date line (not on one side or the other, a purely theoretical situation I agree, but an interesting one, to me at least.)

Perhaps it only depends on whether you consider yourself to be on longitude -180 or on longitude +180. 

Now here is certainly an edge case! .. and much more of an _edge_ than noon or midnight!

How is that related to the am/pm issue?
If it is noon, you must decide if you are part of the morning numbering system in which case it is 12am, or part of the afternoon numbering system in which case it is 00pm. There is no dispute about the derivation of am and pm. Many words are used in ways not completely in keeping with their derivation. In this context I would look upon these terms as simply being labels indicating first or second half of the day. Noon and midnight are the borders thereof and hence can each be identified in the context of either half. 

But we argue unnecessarily (Rick and I:) I'm only considering the situation from the point of making it a logical consistent system. I fully agree with each individual issue Rick raised.