Talk:24-hour clock

Moved from User talk:Indefatigable § Please keep this in mind:

 – Indefatigable (talk) 00:07, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

Citizens of the US, are only about 4.2% of the World population. Even among just English speakers, they are only about 15-23% ...and only a subset of US Americans, would ever think that military time isn't a separate and distinct time notation, to the 24-hour clock. There are some other countries that mainly just use 12-hour notation, certainly ...but no one, in them, would ever see military time and the 24-hour clock, as being anything other than separate and distinct. ~2026-12719-35 (talk) 22:06, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

Correction: I should have included Canadians. Or USA-Light, as I sometimes call it. Still, that doesn't increase the percentages by much. ~2026-12719-35 (talk) 23:03, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

I don't understand the point that you are trying to make with the percentages, but it's likely irrelevant. Do you have sources saying that "24 h clock" and "military time" are separate and distinct concepts? Yes, military standards have stricter policies for formatting than in general usage, but it seems obvious that they use the 24 h clock, and not something different. Indefatigable (talk) 00:13, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

"I don't understand the point that you are trying to make with the percentages, but it's likely irrelevant.

Do you have sources saying that "24 h clock" and "military time" are separate and distinct concepts?"

Wikipedia:You don't need to cite that the sky is blue

"Yes, military standards have stricter policies for formatting than in general usage"

It isn't stricter. It is completely different. Not particularly stricter or laxer. Different. ~2026-12719-35 (talk) 03:56, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:You don't need to cite that the sky is blue I look at "23:59" and "2359" and don't really see much of a difference, unlike the sky, where, on some occasions, I look up and see blue (rather than gray).

t isn't stricter. It is completely different. In what ways is it different? Please give examples. Guy Harris (talk) 07:14, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

"I look at "23:59" and "2359" and don't really see much of a difference"

Pretty much no one sees them as anything other than completely different or would never confuse/mistake one for the other.

Outside of the military, pretty much no one would see "2359", or hear "twenty-three-hundred, fifty-nine", and think it's a time. (why the military uses it, given how it's far less clear, I have no idea. The time zone-indication-bits make sense, but aside from that...)

I don't see how this isn't a clear case of WP:BLUESKY.

"In what ways is it different? Please give examples."

The article already does: 24-hour_clock#Military_time.

The 24-hour clock works just like the 12-hour clock, in text and speech, aside from no am/pm, and the pm hours being over 12. Military time, on the other hand... Again, I point to 24-hour_clock#Military_time.

Also, in casual speech (in 24-hour clock using countries), "14:25" may, instead of "fourteen twenty-five", be said as "two twenty-five", in much the same way as 12-hour clock-people would refer to it as "two twenty-five", instead of saying "two twenty-five p.m." (or, in either system, you might say "in the afternoon", instead of using "p.m." or "14" ...which is all very different, to saying "fourteen-hundred twenty-five". ~2026-12719-35 (talk) 20:54, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

"twenty-three-hundred, fifty-nine" - The source in the article does not say that, and I'm pretty sure it's incorrect. Both military members and civilians pronounce "23:59" and "2359" as "twenty-three fifty-nine". Do you have a reliable source for "twenty-three hundred fifty-nine"? Even if we do find one, it still doesn't mean that the military standard is not the 24 h clock. It just means that militaries have stricter rules for written and spoken formats of the 24 h clock. Indefatigable (talk) 17:57, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

"I don't understand the point that you are trying to make with the percentages, but it's likely irrelevant."

It is not. Over 90% of the World (and 80% of potential readers of the article), find your position to be baffling and confusing, at best, and would never confuse/mistake the 24-hour clock for military time, or vice versa

...and most who don't react to North Americans using the term for the 24-hour clock, don't do so, because they don't know what military time is. And why would they? They're not military. (for the rest, they simply can't be bothered to correct them. Either because they generally don't correct much, or because... if you're gonna correct Americans, about their ignorance and misconceptions, there is simply no end to it, and you'll be there all day ...pretty much forever) ~2026-12719-35 (talk) 21:08, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

I don't have a particularly strong opinion on this, but as I mentioned on the temporary account's talk page, the content that was removed is the noon/midnight wording in the table. That noon/midnight label was first added in 2003, and was first fully moved into the 12 hour column in 2005. While that particular spot in the table might not be the best place for it, I'm not sure I understand the rationale for its removal. - Aoidh (talk) 04:22, 27 February 2026 (UTC)