Was having a debate with my mom earlier tonight and came here to settle the score

Friday midnight.

I would say Friday at midnight but if I needed it to be clear, I'd say something like we'll be home Friday at midnight or in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Its 12AM Saturday, however, it is midnight Friday. In fact, no matter if its midnight or 4 am, until dawn it is still considered Friday night, even though its technically Friday. So, scientifically, 12am is a brand new day. Colloquially, if you sleep at some point every night, then if you are still awake it is the same day.

I'd say "Friday night at midnight" or "Saturday morning at midnight"

Friday midnight. But you gotta tell us who wins the argument based on the answers here

you would call it either friday night at midnight or saturday morning at midnight.

Friday at midnight. But it’s rare I’d specify the day and time together like that. Normally I’d say, “I’m going to a movie Friday night at 8. I’ll be back at midnight… or maybe 1 AM.” 12:01 AM is weird. I think of it as Friday night, but officially it’s the next day. I might say something extra to avoid confusion: “The tickets are on sale starting at 12:01 AM on Saturday the 5th.” Or, “He got home just after midnight on Friday night.”

Friday at midnight. It's because of the 'night' in the word, it takes place during Friday night

It's definitely Friday. You could even say something about like "We got back Friday night at 1 am" and everyone would know you meant 1:00 am Saturday. The same time would also be "1 am Saturday morning."

Friday

Friday at midnight.

I’d probably say Friday

Even when we talk about 'last night' with friends, family or colleagues, unless we specify a time and say morning, we typically can be talking about events up to 5am! I had a dreadful night last night. I kept being woken by this nightmare all night long. It started about midnight, it was horrible. I didn't get a wink of sleep until after 5. It was a really rough night. Technically this was all happening in the morning of the same day that we are recounting the events but we refer to it as the night of the previous day. We tend to think of and talk about 'our day' as the events that take place after we wake up and occur until we wake up the next morning and start a new day, even though technically almost one third of 'our day' belongs to the day after we woke. There is a different way of talking about time as it is lived vs time as it measured and divided calendrically. In the example you give, midnight as it is lived is considered the late night part at the end of the same day that you woke up and began that day.

Friday at Midnight. In fact, even after midnight, you’re still going to say that you’re out partying late on “Friday night”. At some point in the very early morning hours, perhaps around 4 AM, you might start saying that you’re now in “Saturday morning”. It’s a bit of a judgment call, and not a hard-and-fast rule. Generally, if you’re up past midnight but still planning to go to bed within a couple of hours, you’re going refer to anything you do during that time as “last night” when someone asks you about it the next day.

Friday at midnight. Haven’t gone to bed yet. Friday is the reference point. Technicalities aside, saying Saturday at midnight makes it sound like you’re in for a wild overnighter and an extra day.

Friday midnight

Most people would say "Friday at midnight". People are aware that it's technically Saturday, but "Friday night" extends until about probably 4am, at which point people think of it as "Saturday morning". It isn't tomorrow until you wake up (or hear birds chirping). As a programmer, I know that 00:00:00.000 would be midnight on Saturday, the very first millisecond of the day. This is important for getting dates and times correct in programming, but it has little to do with colloquial terminology. Applying the exact definition of midnight to colloquial conversation would not be the correct thing to do.

Definitely Friday at midnight or Saturday morning

“Friday at midnight” seems to be the consensus here, but honestly that sounds weird to me. I would never say that. I definitely wouldn’t say “Saturday at midnight,” even though that’s technically correct, since midnight is the first minute of the new day. I would much more likely say something like “midnight on Friday night.” It seems important to add the night part. I don’t know why, but whenever I imagine telling someone that something will happen at midnight, I put the word “night” in the sentence. Like “midnight tonight,” or “midnight tomorrow night,” or “midnight Wednesday night.”

Midnight is 12 AM, so is technically the beginning of the day, not the end of it. Usually I will intentionally avoid ambiguity: "I'm going to a move at 8 PM Friday and will be home around midnight" is pretty clear.

I would argue that Friday starts when the sun rises (or perhaps earlier if you wake up early to work) and Friday night is after the sun sets until “the wee hours of the night” probably around 3 or 4am, which we like to call the [witching hours](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witching_hour#:~:text=In%20investing%2C%20it%20is%20the,period%20of%20above%2Daverage%20volatility). So yeah, if you wake up on Friday and are out late and stay awake until 1 or 2am, it’s still considered Friday night. I worked at a steel mill years ago and would start a shift at 6pm Friday evening and get off at 6am Saturday morning, but that was considered a Friday shift, not a Saturday night shift.

You haven’t gone to bed yet, so it’ll be Friday night. That’s how I’d demarcate it

Friday night. Because last night when you slept or went to bed it is always last night. It is considered an extension of the night before. Someone would have to specify it was morning if they wanted to talk about Saturday morning. Last night I didn't go to bed until 12:30z I was out until 1:00 am on Friday. Last Friday, I didn't come home until 4:00 am in the morning. I'm pretty sure she didn't get back home until 4:00 am Saturday morning. This changes if you are working a job like medical or police or military or something where you need to log dates and times. At 12:36 am on Saturday March 15th they discovered the abandoned car on the property. This would mean Saturday early morning not Friday night. I live in the US.

It would be Saturday morning. Time is counted as it elapses, so 00:00 in military time is 12 AM. The instant the second of 11:59:59 or 23:59:59 in military time has been completed it would be 00:00:00 the start of the following day.

Friday at midnight. My personal rule is that the dividing line between the days is whenever I go to sleep (I would say something like “I stayed up until 2am Friday night”). However, I’d say the division between when morning and night are is around 1am if talking about the time a specific event happens (eg “our plane takes off at 11:35pm Friday night and lands at 2:00am Saturday morning”). I know many deadlines are given as 11:59pm to avoid this confusion while having the same practical effect (due at the end of the day).

people typically call it midnight Friday but technically it is midnight Saturday. You can think of a 24 hour clock. Midnight is 0:00 so it is technically the next day.

It’s Friday at Midnight. 12:01am would make it Saturday morning which would eventually become Saturday at midnight. So…

I think most people say Friday at midnight, which is frustrating to me because I have to clarify every time just to make sure. To be fair because sometimes it's Saturday at midnight, you have to clarify either way. This doesn't come up mich in conversation, but if something goes into effect at midnight or something like that, it might. Usually in situations like your example you wouldn't say Friday at midnight if you're leaving and coming back a few hours later. If you say "We're leaving Thursday morning and getting back Friday at midnight" it sounds more natural. Otherwise you'd say "We're going at 8 PM on Friday and getting back at midnight." If you want to clarify, I'd say "Friday night at midnight" because the previous midnight would be associated with Friday morning. Midnight Saturday morning is also fine.

Friday at midnight because Saturday morning at midnight makes no sense to say.

Saturday

Friday, But also "settling the score" means getting revenge. 

Friday at midnight, no question.

Midnight usually refers to the end of a day so I believe it would be "Friday at midnight" because Midnight makes me think of the end of a day so if you told me "Saturday at midnight" I would be a day late

Midnight friday. As soon as it's \*past\* midnight, it's Saturday, but the midnight belongs to the day ending.

That’s Friday at midnight.

I and everyone I know would call that “Friday at midnight” or “12 am Saturday” Colloquially, the night belongs to the previous day and the early morning to the calendar day, even at the small hours where that conflicts.

I would say Friday at midnight because the preceding hours are called "Friday night". There is an argument to be made that it is technically Saturday as soon as the clock strikes 12, but I don't yet consider it to be truly Saturday yet. Though I think more commonly I would just say "at midnight" and omit any reference to a specific day entirely.

Having specified the day of the outing

Friday at midnight. although midnight and the early morning hours are technically the following day, it's very common to lump that in with the "night" of the previous day in conversation. if someone says, "I was out late Friday night," that could easily include 2:00 am Saturday, or something like that. you'd really only get exact ("I was out late Friday night and early Saturday morning.") if it was very important to be accurate, like if you were describing the events to a judge in a courtroom.

Friday at midnight even though it would technically be Saturday. Same up until about 3:00 a.m. if it's the continuation of the same night. It doesn't make any sense literally but as a practical matter, in casual usage among friends, no one would seriously think you meant anything but midnight Friday, especially with the context you've given.

Neither. If I've unambiguous stated the day the outing begins, I'd follow that with "… and I'll be home by midnight."

Saturday. Once you hit midnight it becomes the next day