Why is it that Americans refer to 24 hour time as military time? I understand that the military uses the 24hr format but I don’t understand why the general public would refer to it like that?
It makes it seem like it’s a foreign concept where as in a lot of countries it’s the norm.
Let’s go out to eat, I made reservations for 7.
Are we having breakfast or dinner?
Without context, tough to tell. That’s why 24hr is superior.
Dinner, because if it’s earlier than 7 AM and you’re inviting me to an impromptu breakfast, we’re not friends anymore, and I’m going back to sleep.
Saturday, I’m going to bed at 9. Forensic that one out.
Lunch. It’s 7 people.
Except that’s not actually an issue in practice. In a real-world conversation you would disambiguate with “Let’s get breakfast” or “Let’s get dinner” if you’re not referring to the immediate future. I honestly can’t think of a single time that I’ve been genuinely confused in this way.
Edit: Also, when would you ever make reservations for breakfast? Unless this is a joke that’s gone over my head.
Closest thing I can think of is making reservations for Brunch. Some places it’s necessary.
Brunch wouldn’t be at 7 though
The context is the am/pm after
The context is not always given though.
With 24hours, that context is always given.
I won’t disagree on that and do see your point, 100% context for sure
We do have more context than it seems though, if someone tells me to show up to work at 7, I can assume it’s a.m. If someone says they’ll meet me at 12, it’s going to be mid-day etc. If it’s 7 and bright outside it’s in the am, if it’s 7 and dark it’s p.m. It’s not too tricky with context clues
But, being my own devil’s advocate, you are right. No ambiguity in 24 hour time. I don’t have an issue with 24 hour time, was raised on 12 hour so it’s natural but 24 isn’t bad either, and is more exact in some ways.
I do prefer 12 hours though, makes the day feel shorter like working two 4 hour shifts instead of a solid 8. Same time but one feels shorter so I apply that to most days. As another mentioned, working a 9-5 seems short when compared to working a 9-17 😂
If it were up to me though, A.M and P.M would be visible on every 12 hour clock, I do agree it’s weird that some are made without it, sure it is easy to figure out whether a.m or p.m via context clues but having any ambiguity in a form of measurement seems odd, but making a dinner date for 7 and showing up at 7 a.m would be odd as well I guess, though not everything is so clear.
When it’s unclear I’ll say 7 in the evening, or 7 in the morning, 7pm, 7am. 7 at night, supper at 7, whichever one isn’t pitch dark. There are many ways to go about it.