Why does the USA not use the 24 hour clock?

[rhett7660]

Only the military uses 24 hour If we all started talking that way, we'd all be committed for psychiatric evaluation.

Military is not the only organization to use the 24 hour clock. Police, fire, paramedics, hospitals, and other organizations use the 24 hour clock. You will usually find it in business or organizations that have shifts that cover the 24 hour time spectrum.

 

[Huntn]

Only the military uses 24 hour If we all started talking that way, we'd all be committed for psychiatric evaluation.

Not true!

As a non-American, I use the 12-hour system in informal situations as I know the other person will figure out AM or PM, and out of laziness since it's shorter to say three-four-five than fifteen-sixteen-seventeen

I still have a hard time buying vegetables by volume (US-pint) instead of weight. There's no consistency as larger vegetables are usually sold by the pound.

And I don't know what volume is a flooded ounce, and have a hard time figuring out how large is a "cup". To me, a cup is a container used to drink tea, coffee, hot chocolate. And my actual cups are not 248ml, but rather 375 ml, and the next container approaching this value is a glass of 220ml…

I don't know either if a 4lbs + 8 oz baby is underweight or normal weight. Even if it's been more than 30 years since we went metric, I suspect doctors still use US-made instruments.

But with time vs metric that's Apple and Oranges is it not? Having grown up with the English system, most of us who did are obviously comfortable with it, but most industrial, technical production around the world uses metric.

Good point, however, technically that is incorrect, there is no 12 AM or 12 PM, there is only 12 Noon and 12 Midnight, at 12:01 you go back to Ante (before) Meridian (Noon) or Post (after) Meridian (Noon).

11:59 AM -> 12 Noon -> 12:01 PM
11:59 PM -> 12 Midnight -> 12:01 AM

But still, 12AM/PM is an acceptable way to describe that time.

 

[mobilehaathi]

As a non-American, I use the 12-hour system in informal situations as I know the other person will figure out AM or PM, and out of laziness since it's shorter to say three-four-five than fifteen-sixteen-seventeen

But I still have a hard time buying vegetables by volume (US-pint) instead of weight. There's no consistency as larger vegetables are usually sold by the pound.

And I don't know what volume is a flooded ounce, and have a hard time figuring out how large is a "cup". To me, a cup is a container used to drink tea, coffee, hot chocolate. And my actual cups are not 248ml, but rather 375 ml, and the next container approaching this value is a glass of 220ml…

I don't know either if a 4lbs + 8 oz baby is underweight or normal weight. Even if it's been more than 30 years since we went metric, I suspect doctors still use US-made instruments.

Where in the world do you buy vegetables by the pint?

 

[fiddysent]

Because we're not sheeple and don't feel obligated to follow the rest of the lemmings.

exactly. The US military uses the 24 hour system and that's why I will NEVER use it.

 

[C DM]

exactly. The US military uses the 24 hour system and that's why I will NEVER use it.

How does one relate to the other?

 

[lostom]

I work in a 24 workplace and use the 24 hour clock there, but not at home or socially (much)

I don't even know how much a 1/4 pounder weighs.

 

[Huntn]

I work in a 24 workplace and use the 24 hour clock there, but not at home or socially (much)

I don't even know how much a 1/4 pounder weighs.

1/4 pound or 4 ounces.

Honestly while I set my devices to a 24 hr setting if I can, my main motivator is for setting alarms. I don't have to worry about being 12 hrs off, which has happened, if I am not paying close attention. And I never use military time socially. If we are meeting someone for dinner at 6, that's good enough and sounds normal, not meeting at 1800 just because I and I think most people prefer the sound of 6.

 

[Gregg2]

Read part of thread for the first time...

So what does a 24-hour wall clock or watch look like, if it's not digital?

 

[mobilehaathi]

Read part of thread for the first time...

So what does a 24-hour wall clock or watch look like, if it's not digital?

 

[frogger2020]

With just four numbers, you can given the exact time. (no AM/PM)
It's the international norm.

Because you would need to have a big ***** clock to put on 24 separate numbers!

 

[kch50428]

8 pages of discussion on this... smh...

 

[C DM]

Because you would need to have a big ***** clock to put on 24 separate numbers!

You can do it with the same size clock if needed (as the previous post demonstrates). That said, that's not really what it's all about anyway.

 

[IHelpId10t5]

Good point, however, technically that is incorrect, there is no 12 AM or 12 PM, there is only 12 Noon and 12 Midnight, at 12:01 you go back to Ante (before) Meridian (Noon) or Post (after) Meridian (Noon).

11:59 AM -> 12 Noon -> 12:01 PM
11:59 PM -> 12 Midnight -> 12:01 AM

Agreed. Technically, there is an instantaneous point in time where it's neither. Realistically though, an instant after midnight it's 12:00.0000...1 AM (0000.0000...1).

 

[LizKat]

I want 9/10s of America, Every Citizens body apart from their brain.

I want to stuff them into perfect rectangles, their brains jam up the grinder blades....

Heh, given current state of Presidential primary contests, I'd say you're making an unwarranted assumption about having any real problem with the grinder blades.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

View attachment 628120

Personally, I'm more than happy with the standard twelve hour clock, with the numbers 13-24 added in an outer rim, orbiting the rest. That way, those who are able to read the clock either way - or mode - will find it legible and completely comprehensible.

 

[annk]

I grew up in and lived with the system in the US for 22 years (and was in elementary and middle school in the 70s, when the metric system was taught and we were told it was the way of the future), and have lived in Norway for the last 29 years.

It took a little getting used to the 24-hour system, but it's nice because there's never any doubt. In daily speech, however, people use both. It depends on the context. No one seems all that worked up about it.

 

[S.B.G]

I wish we used the 24-hour clock in the US as a standard. I use it and have since I learned about it in the Marines; was never taught it, or the metric system, growing up or in school. All of my clocks that can be set to 24 hour format are that way now.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I guess it depends on what you are used to.
I respect the tradition of any country or its people. When needed I can adjust to either practice of telling the time and it does not pose a problem for me.

 

[throAU]

Because we're not sheeple and don't feel obligated to follow the rest of the lemmings.

Same reason you still use feet and inches, dates that don't sort, and a bunch of other idiotic, illogical things.

Can't hack change, can't adapt.

If you use 24hr time and a date format that makes sense, you can identify any period in time quite easily, in a way that actually sorts in a list.

e.g., todays date/time right as i post this:


20160424191813 UTC+8

If you want to write date/time properly:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

 

[LizKat]

The main advantage to me of using 24-hour notation is there's no mistaking whether morning or night is meant. I don't say 1600 hours, I might say 4pm or 4 o'clock in context of a particular conversation, but I always write it when I'm scheduling stuff. Maybe comes from decades of working variable hours where either 4am or 4pm might represent some task deadline or a meeting time. I have one or two analog clocks around the house but all my other gear is set for 24-hour display.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Personally, I'm more than happy with the standard twelve hour clock, with the numbers 13-24 added in an outer rim, orbiting the rest. That way, those who are able to read the clock either way - or mode - will find it legible and completely comprehensible.

I'm truly ambivalent!

 

[boast]

Always makes me feel proud as an American having so many people criticize our culture and critique everything we do

It is sort of like owning Apple products.

 

[throAU]

Always makes me feel proud as an American having so many people criticize our culture and critique everything we do

It is sort of like owning Apple products.

And that's the problem. On things like this, you should feel like that kid in class who has problems for the whole year with the basic stuff everyone else got 5 minutes into the lesson.

 

[LizKat]

I'm truly ambivalent!

Enjoy it while ambivalence about anything is still legal!

 

[ardent73]

And that's the problem. On things like this, you should feel like that kid in class who has problems for the whole year with the basic stuff everyone else got 5 minutes into the lesson.

Basic stuff is what many on this thread are forgetting:
What's the original purpose of timekeeping? To track the sun's position in the sky, i.e. sundial and the origins of AM/PM which follows the sun's rising and setting. The 24-hour system's purpose is for indoor use only. This is like arguing about whether you should eat with a fork or a spoon, it depends on if you're using a plate or a bowl.