In IIT, one of my friend, also my hostel-mate, once put a notice on his door "Do not disturb after 12:30 PM." OK! I won't. But when can I know, it is 12:30 PM?
According to the logic 11:30 PM is followed by 12:00 PM and then comes 12:30 PM. That means 12:30 in the night. Is that all? Certainly not! According to the rules of grammar, or whatever, the tag A.M. indicates time slot from midnight to midday(noon) and P.M. corresponds to that from noon to midnight. That means 12:30 P.M. occurs between noon and midnight. So it must be 12:30 in the afternoon.
And, we (when I told this to my friend, he joined me) ran into a deep confusion followed by a discussion. Any way, what was wrong?
Simple enough for a student of maths, though not trivial for a layman! Have you heard of a time 2430 hrs? I don't remember. This is because 24:00 is identified with 00:00 hrs in 24 hr clock system. Similarly, in 12 hr system 12:00 should be identified with 00:00.....There will never occur a time like 12:30, neither P.M. nor A.M.
After the realization, I was fascinated with the power of ignorance! Even in marathi terms like saade-baaraa appear and most of us don't realize that it is wrong. (One good thing about marathi is 12:45 is denoted as pauN, which is equivalent to 3/4th part of something. Shall I guess superiority of marathis, from this?...Just kidding
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5 comments:
very very brain stimulating...
the simple ignorance of a harassed IITian who wants to sleep...
no wonder IIT produces great people... i guess its the lack of sleep and the want of it, that leads to intellectual discussion like this, followed by great discoveries!
do keep telling us more about incidents at IITK... let us also be exposed to some intellectual fun!
btw, i guess in many Indian languages 12.45 is called a "quarter-to-one"...
we should certainly consult the ghost if Nipani and find out what he has to say about this ;)
keep writing
There is no 'paun' equivalent in hindi? Just wondering....
To represent 3/4th there is something like "paunaa". But I don't think it is used for 12:45 (PM/AM). Instead "baraah paitalis" is used, as far as I know. But, my hindi is not very good and can't guaruntee the info.
Well, in Hindi we say 12:45 = paun, 1:15 = sava, 1:30 = dedh, 1:45 = paune do, and so on.......
Hey, thanks boss! I never used "paun" in hindi...now I will start.
Thanks to Samudrika. I misunderstood your comment, aur fundae pelna shuru kar diya!
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