> No, it really doesn’t. Saying “4pm at the coffee shop” means that, and this is a big distinction. Some words and phrases, such as "4 pm local time", require

> No, it really doesn’t. Saying “4pm at the coffee shop” means that, and this is a big distinction. Some words and phrases, such as "4 pm local time", require some of their semantic meaning to be inferred from context. This doesn't mean that they are meaningless. It means that the relevant context must be provided in order to interpret the phrase. If you and I have been scheduling the coffee shop meetup, then the phrases "4pm", "4pm local time", and "4pm as measured by the applicable standards in the area of the coffee shop on the day of the meeting" are all equivalent. > Just specify the actual timezone! This is the problem that I pointed out. The appropriate context for "4pm local time" is "at the coffee shop". However, most calendar programs will only let you provide context such as "Eastern Standard Time". This is the wrong context altogether, and choosing it assumes that the area will have extended the duration of DST between time of scheduling and time of meeting.