OT: Okay Brainiacs. Riddle me this.... - Benzworld.org

Ratso · 04-14-2003, 06:35 PM

I have never known what AM and PM stand for. Anyone have an accurate answer?

elfkonig · 04-14-2003, 06:46 PM

LOCHS 2 · 04-14-2003, 07:17 PM

Prime Meridian "Grin itch" England time. Of course, I was a D student in Geography. Why do you ask?

Ratso · 04-14-2003, 07:32 PM

The wife and I were sitting around and the subject up. Never knew and obviously never took latin.

Thanks. That's yet another Cliff Clavin fact to add to the memory banks.

02W163 · 04-14-2003, 07:41 PM

I was changing the clock on the dashboard and I noticed it said AM and PM while I was changing the clock but yet it doesn't say AM nor PM on the actual time display. Any reasons?

Ratso · 04-14-2003, 07:53 PM

jdbower · 04-15-2003, 07:12 AM

AdamNelson · 04-15-2003, 09:08 AM

refers to the time relative to noon at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England, which is located on the "Prime Meridian" (0 degrees longitude).

elfkonig · 04-15-2003, 09:27 AM

Literally speaking, meridiem means noon in Latin.

It doesn't have anything to do with meridians, a geograhical and astronomical term.

A.M. and P.M. are not specific to Universal or Local Time. The opposite could actually be argued, since Universal time refers to any of the 24 hours that have elapsed in the Greenwhich time zone since midnight. In other words, Universal time is measured like military time. Local time is measured either way.

A.M. and P.M. are very much in use in the U.S. but not in Europe, where 24 hour notation is common.

tcp_ML500 · 04-15-2003, 09:59 AM

If you have the trip computer and thus the date display, AM and PM will become important to you because it will trigger the date change at midnight. Or noon [:)]