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I know that AM/PM is for ante/post meridiem, but what is it actually called? Meridian indicator? 12 hour indicator? Something way more clever?

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Answer

Oddly enough, this question seems to already have been answered at StackOverflow. The distinction is called the period.

Aside

As for the actual meanings of AM/PM, they come from the Latin "ante meridiem" ("before noon") and "post meridiem" ("after noon").

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    ha! wtf... why would that be asked on SO? anyways, thanks! – Jason Jul 22 '11 at 22:44
  • any comment on 'ante-meridian'? – Mitch Apr 1 '13 at 4:20
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    @Jason, because software developers think about naming variables properly. It is built into the Object-Oriented mindset. Jader, a commenter, said it well: "It's funny that the question intrinsically is not programming related, but all programmers can understand why you posted it here." – rajah9 Jun 3 '13 at 16:51
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    @rajah9 this is actually why i asked this question in the first place ;) – Jason Jan 7 '14 at 18:34
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    @Json and that was the reason I found your post XD – BananaAcid Dec 28 '18 at 2:31

protected by Community♦ Jun 3 '13 at 16:37

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