Also, time is currently displayed using "AM" and "PM".  Correct usage
(according to current doc styleguide) is "a.m." and "p.m.".

(Although I'm personally not sure this would work so well on-screen--
perhaps we could compromise on "am" and "pm" for the screen version?)

adding GNOME2 keyword

these are strings, and now we are in string freeze. will it be ok to
change that?

am/a.m./AM should be represented as it is by default in locale, i.e.
strftime ("%p")

In my locale, there is no such thing as 12 hour format or AM/PM
strings. It would be nice if programs did not offer such option at all
(as Evolution does -- if locale does not define am/pm strings, does
not use 12-hour formats)

Gediminas: I assume that a patch for this would be accepted by the
release team and docs people if you wrote to release team and
requested it.

I'll fix UNIX

I guess no locales use a.m. and p.m., everywhere is AM/PM or just
nothing. It's strange that styleguides suggest different thing than
used in real clocks and other coputer clocks.

using am/pm vs. AM/PM is just a matter of strftime ("%P") vs strftime
("%p"), so I can change that if desired.

so the question is: do we want to use locale-defined strings (i.e.
nothing) or hardcode a.m./p.m. for all locales?

the whole AM abbreviation comes from latin or from sailors' slang, so
doesn't mean anything to most people in the world..

The reasoning for the recommendation of a.m. and p.m. is as follows: 

These are the standard abbreviations that are recommended in the
American Heritage Dictionary, and Merriam-Websters International
Dictionary. 

Whereas it is true that a.m. and p.m. are abbreviations of Latin
terms, that does not mean that we should use incorrect versions of the
abbreviations, such as AM and PM. Also, if a locale does not use a 12
hour clock, then the problem does not lie with the abbreviations a.m.
and p.m., the problem lies with the availability of a 12 hour clock
for those locales. 

In locales where a 12 hour clock is used, the correct abbreviations to
indicate the day median are a.m. and p.m., as recommended in the GNOME
Documentation Style Guide. 

Also, other applets, applications and documentation may mention the 12
hour clock. Therefore, everyone needs to follow a standardized
approach, so that there is consistency across applications, manuals
and the desktop.

Gediminas is correct in what he's saying. If we want a.m. instead of
p.m. we need to get our libc changed. We are just using the result
from strftime and its there the work would have happened to get time
formats correct for different locales.