Re: Ambiguous language in Table 8.13. Special Date/Time Inputs [EXT]

> Uh, I believe midnight is always the start of the day.

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) deprecates the term “midnight” as ambiguous and recommmends the use of 24-hour clock notation:

===== BEGIN QUOTE =====
When someone refers to "midnight tonight" or "midnight last night" the reference of time is obvious. However, if a date/time is referred to as "at midnight on Friday, October 20th" the intention could be either midnight the beginning of the day or midnight at the end of the day.

To avoid ambiguity, specification of an event as occurring on a particular day at 11:59 p.m. or 12:01 a.m. is a good idea, especially legal documents such as contracts and insurance policies. Another option would be to use 24-hour clock, using the designation of 0000 to refer to midnight at the beginning of a given day (or date) and 2400 to designate the end of a given day (or date).
===== END QUOTE =====

Source:

https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/times-day-faqs

> I think 00:00:00 looks awkward.

Perhaps, but in technical documentation, accuracy should have priority over aesthetics, surely?

David Harper

Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, England

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