governorkeaganOct 25, 2023

Military Time vs 24hr?

https://lemdro.id/post/2602156

Military Time vs 24hr? - Lemdro.id

Why is it that Americans refer to 24 hour time as military time? I understand that the military uses the 24hr format but I don’t understand why the general public would refer to it like that? It makes it seem like it’s a foreign concept where as in a lot of countries it’s the norm.

Show threadNemo WumingOct 25, 2023
In the US, the 12-hour clock format is in widespread use, except in the military. That is why it’s called like that.
Show threadgovernorkeaganOct 25, 2023
It’s interesting that it’s not as widespread amongst the public.As far as I know, the rest of the world either uses it or is able to understand it whereas I’ve had the opposite with Americans. I’m a very limited sample size though.
Show threadSatanicNotMessianic

There is a cultural phenomenon called schismogenesis - the tendency for one culture to define itself by how it differs from other cultures around it. Even in cases where the culture Y approach is “better” by whatever metric, culture X people will reject it because it’s a Y thing and not an X thing. I see the US rejection of the metric system under Reagan being the most glaringly obvious example of this, but the time thing is probably part of it, too.

I just really wish we hadn’t gone with the whole base 60 system in the first place.

Oct 25, 2023 at 8:30pmWeb
Show threadcanOct 25, 2023
Base 60 is so handy though. Very divisible.
Show threadDerrioOct 26, 2023
Why the hate for base 60? It has its roots in Babylon and also forms the basis for angles in geometry.
Show threadSatanicNotMessianicOct 26, 2023
I am not a baseist. Some of my favorite algorithms are base-2.
Show threadjapps13Oct 26, 2023
I think I once read that when the metric system was first defined during the French Revolution, they also tried to use a decimal system for time, but that was quickly abandoned.