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09th Mar 2024

People are only just finding out what AM and PM stand for

Callum Boyle

Time to tell all your mates

We all know the difference between AM and PM, well, I would hope you do anyway.

AM is the morning and PM is the afternoon/evening but there’s many of us out there who don’t actually know what it stands for.

Thanks to the help of Amaya Clarke, who asked, “What does AM and PM stand for?” on TikTok, we now know the answer.

Some people initially thought AM stood for ‘at morning’ and PM stood for ‘post morning’.

According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, the home of Greenwich Mean Time, it explains: “AM stands for the Latin ante meridiem, translating to ‘before midday’. 

“This is the time before the sun has crossed the meridian. 

“PM stands for post meridiem or ‘after midday’ – after the sun has crossed the meridian.”

Several in the comments tried their best to get the right answer but were mostly unsuccessful.

One person said: “Well I didn’t know this and I’m in my 50’s! Was never taught this in school either.

“I’m in my 30s and never heard of this and no they never taught this in any school I went to lol,” said a second.

This obviously applies to the 12-hour clock. Those of you with your high-end 24-hour clocks don’t have to worry about it.

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