Lunch at 12 P.M. or 12 A.M.?

At one time or the other, we inadvertently use absurd words and phrases that are passed on to us. Here are a few misnomers I thought of, while driving back from work. I am sure that there are lots of them out there.

Chai Tea - When I saw this at Star Bucks for the first time, I thought it was funny as chai is a derivative of the Chinese word cha (茶) for tea.

0% APR - We see this all the time in commercials on TV and news paper, when they talk about interest rates. Shouldn't it just be 0% AR? Otherwise, we would be saying "zero percent annual percentage rate (APR)".

12 P.M. or 12 A.M.? - Say we leave for lunch a minute after 11:59 A.M. Would it be 12 A.M. or 12 P.M.?

The answer is that the terms 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. are wrong and should not be used.

To illustrate this, consider that "a.m" and "p.m." are abbreviations for "ante meridiem" and "post meridiem." They mean "before noon" and "after noon," respectively. Noon is neither before or after noon; it is simply noon. Therefore, neither the "a.m." nor "p.m." designation is correct. On the other hand, midnight is both 12 hours before noon and 12 hours after noon. Therefore, either 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. could work as a designation for midnight, but both would be ambiguous as to the date intended" are also correct, though redundant.