RE: Y2K heads up - is this troub

["McCallion, Martin" <MccalliM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Well, I'll be!  I must lead a sheltered life!  Do the British 
> do this as well?
>  Or is this strictly a non-English trait?

We don't use it casually.  Timetables, shop (store :-) ) opening hours
and such, generally use the 24-hour clock.  In conversation people use
AM and PM (or morning, afternoon and evening).  Personally, when I take
a message for a co-worker, I always write the time in 24-hour format --
Ok, it's extremely unlikely that I'd be taking a call at 3am, but hey:
I'm a programmer (and a physics graduate); I like to be accurate.


> Telling someone here in the states that you'll meet him at 
> twenty-one o'clock
> would likely net you a blank stare.  Excepting the military 
> and computer
> technologists.

Same here.

> 
> >If I say to an american "call kme at 8", we do not know if I 
> mean AM or PM.
> 
> OTOH, if I say "call me at 3", you'll learn soon enough that 
> the 15:00 is
> implied!  Context usually determines whether or not to use 
> AM/PM.  "We're
> having dinner at 5:30."  "The managers meeting is at 2:30."  
> "She was born at
> 1:30AM yesterday."

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were just stricking
thirteen"...

But then, that was Airstrip One, not the UK (it's the opening line of
_Nineteen Eighty-Four_).

Cheers,

Martin.

+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---