Doors will open at 12 a.m. and close at 12 p.m. Huh? Exactly when is 12 a.m.? Ain't no such animal. Neither is there a 12 p.m. Correctly, there are noon and midnight (12 noon and 12 midnight are redundancies).
Well, what if there is confusion as to which midnight is meant, as in, "The strike is set to begin at midnight"? That shouldn't confuse, but it can be a hassle if you are writing for a morning newspaper. One solution is to fake it slightly and write, "The strike is to begin at 12:01 a.m.," so that you can get the "a.m." in. The proper solution, of course, is to write, "The strike is to begin at midnight (of Wednesday/Thursday)," though editors dislike such formations. When you see "12 a.m." and "12 p.m.", you know you are dealing with a not very logical, if not semi-literate, writer.
Any editor who lets such a barbarism pass should be taken behind the woodshed and forced to reread a book on American usage (which I haven't read fully and very rarely consult).
Well, what if there is confusion as to which midnight is meant, as in, "The strike is set to begin at midnight"? That shouldn't confuse, but it can be a hassle if you are writing for a morning newspaper. One solution is to fake it slightly and write, "The strike is to begin at 12:01 a.m.," so that you can get the "a.m." in. The proper solution, of course, is to write, "The strike is to begin at midnight (of Wednesday/Thursday)," though editors dislike such formations. When you see "12 a.m." and "12 p.m.", you know you are dealing with a not very logical, if not semi-literate, writer.
Any editor who lets such a barbarism pass should be taken behind the woodshed and forced to reread a book on American usage (which I haven't read fully and very rarely consult).
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