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Modern digital clocks display "PM" at exactly noon, so that has become sort of a de facto convention.

If you examine what "am" and "pm" mean, you get another story. "AM" is an abbreviation for the Latin words meaning "before noon." "PM" is an abbreviation for "after noon." Noon is neither before noon nor is it after noon. The "M" stands for the Latin word meaning "noon." So in old documents, you may see twelve noon referred to as "12:00 M." Of course, that is confusing to most people because the word "midnight" also starts with an "m." The use of "m" (meridian) to mean noon has fallen out of favor in modern usage.

Confusion abounds as to the correct usage. If at all possible, you should try to use 11:59 am or 12:01 pm to avoid confusion. If that is not possible, just say 12:00 noon.

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15y ago

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