Episode 166 · December 3, 2022
Fancy Ovens
A 12-year-old listener asks what AM and PM stand for, and the hosts tie it to noon and the Egyptians.
“It's post Malone.” (03:22)
Questions
What do AM and PM stand for, and where does the 12-hour clock come from? (01:44)
Our guess
Ante meridiem and post meridiem (before and after noon), Latin from Roman times.
Ante meridiem and post meridiem (before and after noon), Latin from Roman times.
Reveal the answer
The answer
AM is Latin "ante meridiem" and PM is "post meridiem". The Egyptians divided the day into 24 parts in base 12 (sundial by day, water clock at night), and the Romans also used 12-hour divisions. The terms are first recorded in English in 1563.
AM is Latin "ante meridiem" and PM is "post meridiem". The Egyptians divided the day into 24 parts in base 12 (sundial by day, water clock at night), and the Romans also used 12-hour divisions. The terms are first recorded in English in 1563.
Verdict right
Transcript (auto-generated)
[00:00] But the bucks and the nets are plus six hundred. Yeah, I [00:05] Mean a healthy Durant and no one almost took down the bucks last year. That's true. That is true [00:11] That is very true, and they now have more pieces [00:16] Potentially I mean if they can get anybody everybody healthy, but that's been that's been the problem [00:21] Depending on what city they play in. Yep [00:25] health and [00:28] Location health and location [00:43] That's what they say about real estate yep [00:47] That was it was health location location [00:51] People often forget about the beginning of that right right [00:55] It is time to move on to our final segment [01:13] Super excited told us we had to [01:17] We signed up for it in the end. It's gonna be better and more true than Google can give you [01:26] I'm really excited about this under Google. We got a write-in from fan of the show [01:33] So Christina [01:35] Snowbird, whatever. I don't know nailed it her 12 year old kid apparently 12 year old kid [01:44] was listening to [01:46] Our podcast while she was driving him to school. His name is Aaron [01:51] So shout out to Aaron [01:54] And so he wanted to ask and I feel like this is useful. I think this is a really good question [01:59] I didn't know how to answer it to him [02:02] What what is a m and p.m. Sand for? [02:07] And when did it come about? [02:09] Good question. I think it's a really good question. You've got a 12 year old asking a really good question [02:16] And we need an answer for him. This is the you know, the clock. Yeah for noon [02:22] Yeah, what why I in my head the moment I heard that I was like, yeah, why do we divide the 24 hours? [02:28] into half [02:30] Like that's a like his military time. Well, no military time goes 24 hours, right? [02:37] So like right. Why do we do anything else? Well because the easiest marker of time [02:43] Or the original marker of time considers before we standardized time was was daylight was high noon, right? [02:50] When the Sun is at its highest in the sky, that's when you're most confident of what time of day it is. Okay [02:56] right [02:59] So that's why I think we [03:01] divide the day basically before and after high noon and my guess is [03:06] that [03:08] The a is something like anta. Yeah, and the p is post and the M is [03:15] Moridian, I think it's meridian meridian meridian anta meridian and post meridian [03:22] It's post Malone [03:28] That's a joke for all the youngsters [03:34] Yeah, because this is going to a 12 year old so he's gonna be totally on that one [03:38] There we go. Mm-hmm [03:41] Is that are you Harper you seemed like you jibed with that does that that makes sense to you? Yeah, it does indeed [03:48] and I I suspect that [03:50] Yeah, the meridian would be the the center point [03:53] So presumably in this case we're talking about the center point in the sky at which point the Sun crosses [03:59] from [04:00] One side to the other right? [04:04] Do you think so? [04:07] Yeah, and when do we think this came about? [04:10] Well, no, that's that's the interesting question, right? So like I mean if you think about it like [04:16] High-noon [04:17] we start to understand as [04:20] you know [04:22] Half of the day people have been tracking the Sun [04:26] That's what I'm saying. So where do where do we go? That's what I'm saying. How far back do we go is what I'm saying [04:32] Well post Latin because there's some Latin words in there [04:40] Yeah, do you think it was 24-hour clock before that? [04:45] No, they didn't have [04:47] Clocks before that when it was a sundial and I think this is I I really like [04:54] Roman not Greek. I'm gonna go with Roman Romans. Okay. I think they came up with this in like 500. I [05:03] Mean, there's a couple different. Yeah, one of this is when did we split it and then went when did that well [05:09] So let's see. Let's think more abstractly here. So in a lot of languages like the European languages there are different salutations [05:18] based on [05:19] Relatively like morning versus afternoon versus the night. Yeah and different clothing [05:24] I mean, you don't want to show up to you know, the dinner party with your morning gloves on you look like an idiot [05:28] Sure. So they sure ask cop versus your cravat. Yeah, exactly. Great. And so the day is [05:35] Divided so it makes sense to me that they would have [05:40] different [05:41] designations for [05:43] That in the time. I mean, I guess that doesn't answer why you would split the 24-hour clock into two 12-hour things [05:51] Unless it's simply that that like yeah, I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. I [05:59] Mean on some level it really only makes sense once you've established. I mean, you know [06:04] The question is why did we establish a 12-hour clock, right? Right [06:10] Presumably when timekeeping became more common [06:14] right [06:15] Which is trains and so the reason it's set things like relative to the high noon is because that's the one thing that's gonna be [06:23] constant across [06:25] Yeah seasons, right [06:27] So so you might think that the more natural thing would be to have hours during the night and hours during the daylight [06:35] But since those change with the seasons the length of those times like you can't do it that way [06:41] So you would have to do it [06:43] divisible by a [06:45] different thing a different marker, right and [06:49] The the daytime one makes sense high noon is gonna always make sense how you figure out what midnight is I have no [06:55] I mean just relative to the other one [06:59] Just hours later. Yeah [07:02] So, I mean maybe that's simply the answer so you're basically just running everything off high noon. Yeah [07:09] Boy, but that's that's rough though [07:12] Is it like I mean if you actually have reliance upon the Sun for timekeeping matters like you would you're probably pretty good at it [07:21] Yeah, exactly [07:23] What we got am stands for the Latin ente meridian. Oh [07:30] That we nailed that mid-day and p.m. Stands for post meridian we nailed that as well [07:37] So according to [07:40] aspirant form.com [07:42] The Egyptians divided the day into 24 equal parts by using the base of 12 [07:49] Of course, they did but why? [08:00] Egyptian sundial for daytime water clock for nighttime. Oh, I love the water lock [08:05] and they both [08:10] Divided their respective times into 12 hours each Romans also use a 12-hour clock [08:15] I mean, it may be that clock makers just found the 12-hour system simpler and cheaper [08:25] Other places did do the 24-hour clock [08:29] 12-hour clock was used in the British Empire [08:32] Right. That's what I'm seeing [08:34] The first mechanical clocks are on the 14th century [08:38] I'm not saying anything on time frame of using actual am and p.m. [08:45] It keeps I was keep getting British Empire over and over again [08:51] Alright so the term according to grammar phobia first recording English in 1563 [09:00] How'd they figure that stuff out with like the stars and the Sun and all that stuff yes [09:08] Amazing that's amazing. All right. Well, we nailed it [09:15] Yeah, I still don't know why we use 12-hour clocks [09:19] Yeah, but we know what it stands for and we know that it came from the Egyptians [09:27] Mesopotamians, yep, what do we learn? [09:33] Ask myself that a lot [09:35] Into the mirror listen to the ear from now. Yeah. Yeah, exactly [09:43] No, but you know, I'm we're trying to teach a 12 year old right now what's going on so [09:49] What do we learn we learn that we should tell him [09:56] Should probably start using a literary time. It was a good question because we don't know the answer. That's right [10:04] All right military time [10:07] Some you know, you can you can actually set that on your iPhone you can sit on [10:13] Basically any digital clock. I mean not on your oven clock [10:18] Sure, you can't some of no, they don't do the 24 hours on your oven clock some do [10:24] Oh, oh, oh you guys have the fancy ovens, huh? Oh, look at you guys [10:28] I had the big money guys with the oven clocks that go 24 hours mine only goes 12 [10:34] Alright, I'm just saying. Yeah, I can't cook something longer than 12 hours. The numbers don't go up to more than 12 on my oven [10:43] so [10:44] Go be fancy and yours will do [10:49] We'll come hang out with you and and my turkey for 24 hours [10:54] later [10:55] Our oven also has a Shabbat function [11:03] It has a Shabbat function. Yes [11:06] Did I just say function or function? Yeah, you got a cover now [11:12] Yeah [11:14] What it wait, what does that do Jason? I'm you can like preset it to like [11:19] Turn on for you because you're if you're yeah [11:24] Orthodox are very [11:26] Do anything on Shabbat like you can turn on the oven. All right, I I [11:32] In in college, I did some babysitting for a Jewish family and they [11:37] Asked me to do those things for them. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a common way to get around it. Right solid work around slave labor. I [11:45] Mean it was like stuff like it was like flip on the light turn on the lights [11:48] Yeah, it was stuff like that. It was it was I just I don't know where you draw the line. It's a [11:54] Yeah, yeah [11:58] It was always small stuff like that, you know, so it was it was never [12:03] They were I would say [12:05] Modern Orthodox where they followed the rules, but they were they were a little bit like they would eat it [12:12] None [12:14] Not kosher, but they would eat kosher things like, you know what I'm saying, like [12:21] Anyway [12:23] They kept separate silverware and plate wearing stuff like that. They did. Yeah. Yeah, you just putting people's news on the street right now [12:29] Joey is that what's happening? [12:32] I didn't say who [12:36] I'm also pretty entertained with Coalson [12:42] What's going on to your microphone, but I don't know [12:46] Won't stay up. Okay, it's never happens like before [12:52] When you were younger you never had that [12:55] 40 now [13:01] All right, well it is [13:03] Because it will continue to go down get the FO [13:09] The quality of this show [13:12] It goes up and up and up and up. Look at that. Look at that. See look it's all happy [13:18] We'll be back with you next Monday [13:23] I'm assuming [13:27] I'm gonna have to hold the mic from now on. Hey guys, this might be the one where the FCC steps in [13:37] Well, we wouldn't do this but [13:41] 576 was egregious country's been through a lot the last couple years [13:51] So so some people say I'm too intense [13:55] Here's what I'm gonna say [13:58] Suck it [14:00] You're super chill [14:05] Super chill I have the microphone in my hand and I'm not screwed. Oh, yeah [14:16] We will be back with you for some reason on Monday [14:25] Until then you can hit us up on social media, we're on Twitter at [14:30] Undebeatables we're on facebook.com slash at the indubeatables. Our website is the indubbeatables.com is a contact form there [14:37] You can use that to send us a message [14:39] but we're a little fragile right now, so be careful with that one and shout out at the indubbeatables.com and [14:46] the website slash store for [14:52] For the architect Johnny Walsh and our once and always all of a [15:02] Bobby's [15:07] No [15:09] I think that microphone stand you've used for the like the last eight years has just been holding you back