- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
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SMART TALK by Dr. Verbos Metikulos
NOON AND MIDNIGHT: Recently, I had to go to New York City on business for the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired. A restaurant advertised its Monday through Thursday hours as 11 AM - 12 AM. I thought to myself, "My, that's a short day."
Friday and Saturday, they're open 11 AM - 12:30 AM. And on Sunday, their hours are 12 noon - 11:30 PM.
Of course, 12 noon and 12 midnight are redundant. All anyone ever needs to say or print are noon and midnight.
Saying 12 AM and 12 PM reveal an embarrassing development. We used to say, logically, 10 PM, 11 PM, and then 12 PM, which is followed a minute later by 12:01 AM. Midnight was 12 PM. Using the same thinking, we said 11 AM, 12 AM, and then 12:01 PM.
But along came digital clocks, which, like computers, just do what they're told, without thinking. Since it becomes afternoon after noon, the clock dumbly shows 12 PM at noon. We ovine consumers got used to seeing digital displays and assumed they were always right. So now a restaurant displays its hours in a confusing way.
This becomes important in court, where cases have been thrown out because a No Parking sign shows 12 AM as a time limit. If the sign had said noon or midnight, it wouldn't have caused confusion.
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