Yes - but what time?

[Chazzie]

I would have been confused too. To me, Midday is terminology for "Middle of the day"- so I would have asked for a specific time as well.

[Sliceanddice]

since it ends at mdnight i would think could get n at noon friday

[BusBus]

Keep in mind that the OP is from Australia, where "midday" might ="noon". In North America, midday is much more vague.

Is it possible that the SC was from out of the country?

[Pagan]

This is one thing that drives me nucking futs! There is no such thing as 12:00am or 12:00pm. At those two particular times, it's in between am and pm. For day, I always use "noon" and for night, "midnight".

When I was still at the green&white place, there were a few times that we opened up at noon because of some holiday or other. Believe you me that we had more than a few asshats that thought we opened at midnight because our ad had said 12pm.

If "noon" and "midnight" are used, all vagueness is removed. I mean for us, SCs on the other hand....

[Andara Bledin]

This is one thing that drives me nucking futs! There is no such thing as 12:00am or 12:00pm. At those two particular times, it's in between am and pm. For day, I always use "noon" and for night, "midnight".

*nods*

Yup. That's why I always say 12 noon or 12 midnight. Or sometimes just noon or midnight. After all, am and pm stand for ante meridian and post meridian, and when it's 12 noon it's exactly meridian, and 12 midnight is exactly the other side.
</pedant>

^-.-^

[mattm04]

Different terms just make SCs (even most customers) more confused, so for Midday/Noon, I'll just say 12 O'Clock.

At my work employees who either start or leave at midnight it shows on the schedule as 12:00n. When I worded a midnight shift once i asked what that meant and they said that some employees didn't know the difference between 12 AM and 12 PM.

[Lioness Blackfire]

Hmm, around here "midday" is as specific as "midnight". Rarely used, but still very precise. I would have definitely been confused if someone had asked me "what time?" after I stated "midday".

In the Air Force, 1200. In the Army, when you see people file out for chow. In the Marines, when you see the grunts running after a dog with a knife & fork...lol.

That was awesome!

[StevieJD]

My worst time issue:

Spring ahead and Fall Back.

Working the 11PM to 7AM shift at the local hospital we would have patients scheduled for lab or other procedures at various time intervals after an event. Like 12 hours after surgery.

The secretaries would book me for 2AM or 3AM.

Which 2AM. The first 2AM or the Fall Back 2AM.

Which 3AM. The real 3AM or the Spring Ahead 3AM.

And don't even get me started with the 2:30 AM.



Also back in those days we had time clocks to clock in and out. MECHANICAL time clocks. Somebody would have to MANUALLY adjust the clock. Paychecks always got screwed up. Of course they would get it fixed on the next paycheck, but still, it wasn't like Spring Ahead / Fall Back was a once in a life time event.

Hey, it makes a difference.

[Difdi]

...So let me get this straight: The SC understood "midnight" but had no idea what "midday" was?!?

[edible_hat]

In the Marines, when you see the grunts running after a dog with a knife & fork...lol.

How did the dog get the knife and fork? Does he know what to do with them?

[Brightglaive]

How did the dog get the knife and fork? Does he know what to do with them?

I thought the first post about the marines was funny... but you topped it Ed Hat




And I agree:

Midday == Noon
Midnight == 12AM
10 - 1 == 1 (Hint: do it in binary)

[rvdammit]

How did the dog get the knife and fork? Does he know what to do with them?

Go to a lobster fight?

[SpyOne]

This is going to be one of those things where location is important, because English is not the same everywhere.

I think my experience will be fairly common for Americans: "Noon" and "Midnight" are specific times, all other times that are words are a vague spectrum. "Midday" is no more specific than "lunchtime" or "evening".

I guess in Australia it is different, and "Midday" is used exactly as I would use "noon".
I hope this helps folks with English-to-English translation.

[JLRodgers]

Different regions do make big differences in terms. To me midday means noon; however if someone were to say something's going on at midday, I'd ask "noon?" to confirm. Midday = Midafternoon around me to a number of people. And mid-afternoon can be anything from noon-5 (although generally means around 3pm). Evening is about 7pm, 5 is early evening.

I prefer actual set times myself if it's something important.

I once had a argument with someone once over someone having a "beau" -- in my area that means fiance, not boyfriend.

[Pagan]

*nods*

Yup. That's why I always say 12 noon or 12 midnight. Or sometimes just noon or midnight. After all, am and pm stand for ante meridian and post meridian, and when it's 12 noon it's exactly meridian, and 12 midnight is exactly the other side.
</pedant>

^-.-^

Oh, good. I was beginning to think that I was the only one bugged by that!