It’s Seventeen Somewhere

“Without a hill to die on, we’re doomed to lie flat for eternity.” -John Sharbel, failed philosopher

Well, thankfully, I have such a hill, and it is this: The 24 hour clock is far more sensible than our current love affair with AM/PM.

I’ve written on this before, and I have a few points on the matter. A day has 24 hours in it, so why should our clock only have numbers for 12 of those, then duplicated over? What if we did the same for the months?

January, February, March, April, May, June, January PM, February PM, March PM, April PM, May PM, June PM.

Every month has its own name, thus avoiding confusion and useless duplication. Similarly, every time of day could have its own number. In this case, a number that actually means something. Take our lovely 5:00 PM. It translates to 17:00. But that’s more than just a random number. It marks seventeen hours since the day began at midnight. What does 5:00 PM mean? Five hours since the time we call “noon,” which isn’t even the time at which solar soon actually occurs? I understand the use of the 12-hour system made it easier to use analog clocks, and our affinity for it is likely just a relic from a time before the world went digital. So, I understand why it’s still around. Old habits die hard. What I don’t quite understand is what accompanies this old habit: blind disdain for the 24 hour option.

That disdain won’t help you in the long run. A number of sensible developments were once novel and doubted. Electric lighting, the automobile, television, the personal computer… sure, all much grander developments than a simple change in clock, yet the point stands. Consider things that are new but promising. I’ll try to do the same in things more important than the numbers on a clock.

-John

P.S. All this “2100 hours” talk doesn’t have to come along for the ride. “Party starts at 21” does the trick just fine (that’s 9:00 PM, for the record).