Oh, NM. I see this was already proposed.
Hey, if it helps, consider this: every time you’re aware of it “being” 12:00 (either one), is at least a moment after the strict instant of the meridiem, right? Thus, you have entered the next “half” of time.
I’m “only” 47, and it’s always been the same for me as well. That said, there have always been a great many people who either don’t ‘get it’ or just plain refuse to follow convention.
I’d support everyone moving to ‘military time’ and removing any possible ambiguity…
That’s the mnemonic I use, but it will always be counter-intuitive, because we simply don’t count 12-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11 in ordinary circumstances, so it’s hard to remember that 0 ≤ 12 < 1. Edit: “noon” and “midnight,” as words (and thus less math-y) are helpful ways to make that 0=12 transition to the next cycle, reinfornced by the useful literal meanings of “a.m.” and “p.m.”
I have actually never heard 12 am or 12 pm in conversation. It’s always noon or midnight in conversation ( although that does leave the question of what’s meant by “midnight Tuesday”) I’ve seen it in writing, yes, but I’ve seen it in writing for as long as I can remember - it’s not something new. Although I have noticed that a lot of bills etc now say "payment is due by 11:59 pm on 12/1 " . I assume this is to avoid any misunderstanding of which 12 am or midnight is being referred to if those times were used.
Oh and the water bill might not be a screw-up. I’ve had bills that said payment must be received by some specified time other than midnight ( specifically 9am, 3pm and 5pm). It could be they really want the payment at noon- or it could just be to avoid “which midnight is the midnight of 12/1” issue.
If it makes you feel better, 12 noon is a specific point in time, and you’re practically never going to be exactly on that point. As long as you’ve passed it by even a fraction of a second, it’s “post meridiem.”
ETA: I see Peremensoe has already made this point.
It started with the popularity of digital display clocks in the 1970’s (+/- a decade?) that used panels to show the numbers like this. There was no feasible way to show the instant of midnight or of noon, so the “AM” or “PM” went along with what was correct for the split second following those instants.
“Practically never!” I have been exactly on that point once a day, every day, for decades.
I’m so glad to see someone make this point: I hate it when people say “12 am” or “12 pm.” Just say noon or midnight. My other pet peeve is the word bi-monthly. It’s amazing that dictionary.com (and probably many other dictionaries) have BOTH of these definitions:
adjective
1.
occurring every two months.
2.
occurring twice a month; semimonthly.
That’s why I never use the words “bi-monthly” or semimonthly.
REDUNDANT, that’s what it is. :mad:
Not if one cares to distinguish between 12 noon and 12 midnight.
Still redundant- noon or midnight without the 12 distinguishes just as well.
Why do you need the “12”? To distinguish between 12 noon and 9 noon?
I always thought it made more sense for noon to be 12 am, because WTF should 12 *pm *follow 11 am? The digital clock issue makes sense as an excuse, but it strikes me as playing fast and loose with the space-time continuum and we’ve all seen what that can lead to.
I blame Roman inclusive counting.
The problem is that what we call “12 o’clock” should really be called “0 o’clock.”
But doesn’t “o[f the ]clock” literally refer to a clock face? Where there is no zero.
For me, it would be to distinguish 12:00 noon, the more-or-less precise moment, from “noon[time],” the span. Just as I’d use 3:30 AM in some contexts, “wee hours” in others.
If we’re getting overly pedantic over this matter, shouldn’t we be using words other than midnight and noon for 12 am and 12 pm? Midnight is rarely if ever midway through sunset and sunrise, and noon comes from the Latin ‘nona hora,’ signifying the ninth hour of the day.
Ok… but:
12 midnight = 10
12 am = 4
12 noon = 6
12 pm = 4
That is all. 
Given it originally meant the 9th hour, or 3pm, then yeah, possibly.
Not in conversation, but in letters from companies, emails from HR or TPTB at work, and so forth.
Tru dat, but OTOH it’s taken up exactly 0% of your life.