有人連'afternoon'或'evening'都混淆

I don't think there can be any confusion about saying good morning before noon, and good afternoon after that. People on their way to lunch at 12:05 pm will not greet people with good morning. Likewise, people coming back from an early lunch at 11:55 am will not say good afternoon either. Clearly, "noon time" is the dividing line, and most people expect that we use the correct term.

However, there isn't a set time between afternoon and evening, and accordingly, most people are more casual about the use of those terms, especially during the late afternoon and the early evening, say, after 5pm and before 7pm. It aslo depends on whether it is before or after dusk. In Canada, where it quite often gets dark at 5pm in the winter, and stays bright well past 9pm in the summer, one will be tempted to say good afternoon at 6pm in August, and good evening around the same time in February.

Therefore, in your example, I think the DJ was likely being humourous, to say good afternoon first, and then correct himself, to emphasize the fact that it was already all dark,so good evening would fit the atmosphere better. Even if he was serious, the issue itself isn't, it really isn't a big deal to say good afternoon at 6:30pm, regardless of whether it's bright or dark.
Besides, sometimes it can be customary as well, people in North America, upon gong home from work at 5pm, will usually say good night to each other.

I sometimes make that 'mistake' as well, especially now that Day Light Saving has finished in Australia. The sky doesn't get dark until 8pm in summer and when the sun or light is still 'out', it's very temping, and common to say 'afternoon' because that indicates there's still 'sun'. 'Evening' usually gives the meaning of 'darkness' or at least an evening blueish sky. So now when it's dark at 6pm and that Day Light Saving has only just finished the previous weekend, it's easy to make that quick slip.

So don't blame the DJ - and in fact, it's impossible for someone who speaks English as their native tongue or fluently to confuse the two terms.

2010-04-08 21:09:37 補充：
On that token - in some parts of Europe (eg. Holland) people say 'Good morning' to the other person if that's their first meeting of the day, even though it could be 6pm or 8pm in the evening!

2010-04-15 17:33:34 補充：
jhsniper0 - do you mean all of YOUR above statement are unreliable? Or the comments made by people who get to experience day light saving in the real world?? I'm not sure who's comments are more of the 'moonshine' type?

2010-04-15 17:34:32 補充：
ahh...'whose' damn it - I'm utterly offended by the so-called 'moonshine' statement, and now I'm making 'moonshine' mistakes

2010-04-15 17:36:57 補充：
ohhh...I think I get it now jhsniper0 - my utmost sincere apologies!

Hello there!
I'm in Australia too!
It just sounded like he randomly said something wrong.
Not too much of a language problem, more like he was just out of it at the time.

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祝您好運!

IN general usage, the use of Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night is correspondent to meal time in western world.

First meal (Breakfast) meaning the start of the morning, leads to lunch
Second Meal (Lunch) meaning the start of the afternoon, leads to dinner
Third Meal (Dinner) meaning the start of evening, leads to bed time.
Bed time is night.

Actually, you would know when you get to know the custom and tradition and word assoicated with the timesuch as

Evening Dress and Night Dress

喺外國個度EVENING係指夜晚(早啲既)

NIGHT都係指夜晚，不過就係個天黑哂既。

之前外國留學係老師講