Re: midnight Friday

[Kelly Hoffman <kelly -at- NASHUA -dot- HP -dot- COM>]

I wrote:

 > > New twist: If someone advertises that they're open 8 am Monday to
 > > midnight Friday, are they open on Friday or not?

Beverly Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH1 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> replied:

 > This is strictly personal opinion, but I don't see a problem
 > with interpreting midnight Friday at all. If today were Friday
 > (and it is!) and I said midnight today or midnight tonight,
 > would there be any question?

Of course there'd be a question.  Let's presume, like most (all?) VCR
manufacturers, that midnight is the *first* moment of a day.  For the
examples above, then, "midnight today" has already passed.  It
occurred about 10.5 hours ago.  "Midnight tonight" sounds a bit
oxymoronic -- like "2 a.m. tonight" -- but I'd take it to mean
"midnight tomorrow."

Now, if you said "Friday night at midnight," I'd probably interpret it
as you intended. ;-)

 > I actually found a reference for this. The UPI Stylebook says
 > that midnight "is part of the day that is ending, not the one
 > that is beginning."

Does the 24-hour clock designate midnight as 00:00 or 24:00?  What
does the UPI Stylebook say about this, anything?

Despite what any stylebook says on this particular issue, I avoid
using "midnight," simply because I don't know which interpretation the
reader will use.  As such, it doesn't matter which definition is
"correct."

Cheers,

kkh

--
Kelly K. Hoffman                             kelly -at- nashua -dot- hp -dot- com
Learning Products Engineer
Hewlett-Packard, Network Test Division       "Reading the manual is
One Tara Blvd., Nashua, NH 03062                admitting defeat."