Wednesday, January 3, 2018

What Does Midnight Mean?

I can't stand it any longer.  I have to write about this misconception as it's a relatively simple misconception but one that bugs me to no end!  I find it unfortunate that too many do not understand the meaning of 'midnight'.  Too often deadlines are given stating something along the lines of "such and such is due at midnight on Thursday."  Is it really due at midnight on Thursday?  Does the deadline giver understand what midnight on Thursday actually means? 

What is midnight?  Midnight is the START of the day.  It is 12:00 AM to start a new day.  When stating such and such is due on Thursday at midnight means 12:00 AM on Thursday, which means the start of Thursday, not the end of Thursday.  Yet what is typically intended is the "end of the day on Thursday".  The end of the day Thursday is not midnight.  It's 11:59 PM.  One minute before Friday.  Personally I never use the phrase "Thursday (or any day) at midnight" because it will inevitably lead to confusion.  I always give an exact time and exact day to remove any possibility of confusion. 

I'm probably the only person in the world bothered by this, but midnight is the START of a day.  If you intended to mean the end of a day, don't say midnight.  :-) 

Misconception explained.  Rant over.  :-)

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