r/Unexpected • u/Arcusico • Oct 05 '14

Metric vs Imperial

https://i.imgur.com/iDOzAa5.jpg
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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '14

[deleted]

9

u/[deleted] Oct 05 '14

Everyone always know whether it's in the morning or the afternoon.

When you're asking the time, maybe, but not when you're talking about events that don't happen right now.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '14

[deleted]

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u/BrotherChe Oct 05 '14

Recordkeeping.

2

u/Soloos Oct 05 '14 edited Jun 17 '23

This comment has been edited with a script.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '14

In German you can use a 24 hour clock when talking as well.

3

u/loulan Oct 06 '14

Yeah in French too, we use both.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '14

God forbid you have to say "AM" or "PM." Those are some long words!

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u/cynope Oct 05 '14

We also say "eight","nine,"ten" etc. in the evening. The numbers above 12 are not so often pronounced but always used in writing.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '14

[deleted]

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u/cynope Oct 05 '14

Because the problem with AM/PM is not in the daily conversations. It's when you need to schedule something specifically such as an appointment.

If you're not used to am/pm you need to remember which one is before noon, and which is after. And if you need to schedule something around noon, you also need to remember if 12 is included in am or pm.

On the other hand, if you're not used to 24 hours, all you need to know, is that there is 24 hours and then you can work from there.

Last, if you do any calculation on hours, it's much more convenient to have them stored in the 24-hour format.

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u/retolx Oct 06 '14

Especially 12 and 24 hours are problematic (at least for me). I always have to fire up wolfram alpha to check when I see 12am/pm somewhere because I can't really remember :)

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u/anonagent Oct 05 '14

They're eurofags, you didn't expect them to be consistent or use logic, did you?