a.m./p.m. choice - what's it called?

October 14, 2010 9:39 AM

I'm annotating a simple date/time online form for some developers. The "Month," "Day," "Year," "Hour" and "Minute" sections are all self-explanatory, but is there a word for the "a.m./p.m." section (other than, say, "meridian designation")?
posted by jessemellon to Writing & Language (9 answers total)

You have two options in my view. Make a true/false option for "Morning?" or "Afternoon?" or do as many developers and non-Americans do and have the time entered as in 24-hour format with options to redisplay with as AM/PM if you so desire.
posted by proj at 9:44 AM on October 14, 2010

Just use "a.m./p.m."
posted by flug at 9:46 AM on October 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

but is there a word for the "a.m./p.m." section (other than, say, "meridian designation")?

Yes: "am/pm"
posted by Sys Rq at 9:47 AM on October 14, 2010

dangit!
posted by Sys Rq at 9:48 AM on October 14, 2010

Time of Day
posted by royalsong at 9:54 AM on October 14, 2010

It's called Period.
posted by drinkcoffee at 10:06 AM on October 14, 2010

From Wikipedia:

"The 12-hour clock is a time conversion convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods..."
posted by drinkcoffee at 10:08 AM on October 14, 2010

Don't bother, it's self-explanatory. For example:

  Hour | Minute   |
-------+----------+-----------
     8 |    35    | am

Where all three fields are drop downs that are either initially blank or filled in with 12:00 am.
posted by Simon Barclay at 11:09 AM on October 14, 2010

go with what Simon Barclay said.
posted by cusecase at 2:16 PM on October 15, 2010