I was referring to the practical application rather than the scientific one.
I would consider the most practical application to be referring to them as lunch-time and bed-time.

I was referring to the practical application rather than the scientific one.
Sorry this was in an office with computers and not one of you had the Iq to just check it on the clock in the bottom right of the screen?
12am is midnight 12pm is midday.
But thats wrong.
You're talking about midday being a point, and 12.00.01 being pm, but that isn't 12pm.
12pm is also a point, all time is a point if you zoom in enough. There is no argument about it, its fact - 12pm/am do not exist, and would only exist as an inaccurate measure of a time before or after midday. Its an indisputable fact. Much easier to say noon or midnight anyhow...
12pm Midday
12am Midnight
From the Royal Observatory website.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/time-facts/faqs/is-noon-12-am-or-12-pm
Right now class, we're going to start learning about the alphabet.
Noon is accurately 12:00:00 and anything after that is pm, so 12pm for all intents and purposes is a more practical reference as it refers to a period of time depending on the context of the observer. 12:00:01 is 12pm and will remain so until 12:01:00 when it becomes 12:01pm, to any practical use.
The 12 hour clock denotes 12noon as pm, and thus in answer to the OP 12am is midnight and 12pm is midday. Not the opposite as he suggested.
12PM = Sunny
12AM = Dark
Simples...unless you're in a country where you get midnight sun.
ante meridiem (a.m., English: "before midday") and post meridiem (p.m., English: "after midday")
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Meridiem
I think of it like this, what is 12:01 am closer to?
in terms of rounding to the nearest hour, you are right. In terms of accuracy (and being correct) you are wrong, which i guess you concede.
People saying noon is a dimensionless point don't seem to grasp that to a degree so is 12.00.01, 12.00.02 when taken in isolation.
I guess what i'm trying to say is that common usage uses 12pm for noon, but its black and white, and 12pm is only referring to time rounded down from JUST after noon, to 12.00 for convenience sake. In the OP it was referring to when cover ended, and the cover would have ended at 12pm. so are we saying that actually the cover ended at 12.01-12.29, and not noon? (its a strained and bit silly point, but you get the jist).