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>So maybe one problem it solves, is the American assumption that everyone uses the 12-hour clock. I'm an American, and I was not aware of the "American assumpt

>So maybe one problem it solves, is the American assumption that everyone uses the 12-hour clock. I'm an American, and I was not aware of the "American assumption that everyone uses the 12-hour clock." Please elaborate further.

ams6110 9y ago
In Europe, most "official" times use a 24-hour clock (train schedules, etc.). This is almost never seen in America outside of the military and many Americans would need to stop and calculate what time "17:30" is.
- znpy 9y ago
  Sidenote: AFAIK, UK also uses an AM/PM format for time, instead of the unambiguous 24-hour format.
  - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    In typically British fashion we use both quite readily.
  - stordoff 9y ago
    Both are used, and it's fairly arbitrary which is used - bus/train times are usually 24-hours, general speech is usually 12-hour unless referring to something that is already in 24-hour time (but even then some people will switch them to 12-hour), and I see appointment cards, invoices etc. using both. It's definitely in keeping with how we mix meters/feet and pints/litres.
  - howard941 9y ago
    From what I gather watching UK TV there's also the charming and efficient use of "half X" to refer to thirty minutes after hour X.
- rhapsodic 9y ago
  >In Europe, most "official" times use a 24-hour clock (train schedules, etc.). Uh, yeah, I'm well aware of that, as are most Americans I know. That's why I asked about "the American assumption that everyone uses the 12-hour clock". That must be a myth that non-Americans believe in.
eddieroger 9y ago
I'm an American who chooses to use a 24 hour clock for all my digital ones, anyway, and didn't realize that American assumed anything about time like that. Instead, I assumed that it's up to the user's discretion, and they would set their computer settings appropriately (or not at all, since it's probably fine as localized), and in the case of Google, the computer would rely on those localization settings, as it did for "17:30 in Denmark."
- Symbiote 9y ago
  > I assumed that it's up to the user's discretion, and they would set their computer settings appropriately My computer is configured correctly, but it's rather common for an application (especially a phone app) or website to ignore those settings, or to think it knows better. 04:30 UTC means 04:30 UTC, or 05:30 in Denmark. Not 17:30! The same can happen if I type something like "04:30 Catch flight" into an appointment in my Google Calendar. It is converted into a new appointment "16:30 Catch flight". It's not just Google. "Your Office 365 subscription will automatically renew on 1/19/2018." and the admin interface is a mix of date and time formats.

ams6110 9y ago

In Europe, most "official" times use a 24-hour clock (train schedules, etc.). This is almost never seen in America outside of the military and many Americans would need to stop and calculate what time "17:30" is.

znpy 9y ago
Sidenote: AFAIK, UK also uses an AM/PM format for time, instead of the unambiguous 24-hour format.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  In typically British fashion we use both quite readily.
- stordoff 9y ago
  Both are used, and it's fairly arbitrary which is used - bus/train times are usually 24-hours, general speech is usually 12-hour unless referring to something that is already in 24-hour time (but even then some people will switch them to 12-hour), and I see appointment cards, invoices etc. using both. It's definitely in keeping with how we mix meters/feet and pints/litres.
- howard941 9y ago
  From what I gather watching UK TV there's also the charming and efficient use of "half X" to refer to thirty minutes after hour X.
rhapsodic 9y ago
>In Europe, most "official" times use a 24-hour clock (train schedules, etc.). Uh, yeah, I'm well aware of that, as are most Americans I know. That's why I asked about "the American assumption that everyone uses the 12-hour clock". That must be a myth that non-Americans believe in.

eddieroger 9y ago

I'm an American who chooses to use a 24 hour clock for all my digital ones, anyway, and didn't realize that American assumed anything about time like that. Instead, I assumed that it's up to the user's discretion, and they would set their computer settings appropriately (or not at all, since it's probably fine as localized), and in the case of Google, the computer would rely on those localization settings, as it did for "17:30 in Denmark."

Symbiote 9y ago
> I assumed that it's up to the user's discretion, and they would set their computer settings appropriately My computer is configured correctly, but it's rather common for an application (especially a phone app) or website to ignore those settings, or to think it knows better. 04:30 UTC means 04:30 UTC, or 05:30 in Denmark. Not 17:30! The same can happen if I type something like "04:30 Catch flight" into an appointment in my Google Calendar. It is converted into a new appointment "16:30 Catch flight". It's not just Google. "Your Office 365 subscription will automatically renew on 1/19/2018." and the admin interface is a mix of date and time formats.