4 ms·

Special mention of the expression “the west” which Americans like to use to mean the USA and some amorphous blob I don’t really want to think about but I’m goin

Special mention of the expression “the west” which Americans like to use to mean the USA and some amorphous blob I don’t really want to think about but I’m going to pretend is exactly the same as the USA.

aquova 2y ago
That's easy, it's the US and any Canadian city with an NHL team.
- djtango 2y ago
  I'd argue the UK is part of "the west"?
  - ben_w 2y ago
    The UK is the old west (but not the Old West). London is in the global west, except for the whole thing with the Greenwich Meridian going through… Greenwich, east London. Not to be confused with East London, which is in South Africa, which fortunately is also in south Africa. The UK is definitely in the west of Europe though.
blitzar 2y ago
Its the World Series of Baseball.
ralgozino 2y ago
Somehow related, expressions like "next summer", "starting this spring" and such on public global announcements make absolutely nonsense if you are in the southern hemisphere (like a big percentage of the global population)
- gruez 2y ago
  What are they supposed to use instead? "Starting in Q3/H2"?
  - ralgozino 2y ago
    Maybe you are not aware but while it is summer in the northern hemisphere in the southern hemisphere you have winter (and so on). So, speaking of seasons means exactly the opposite depending on which hemisphere you are. What's wrong with using a calendar date like may the 1st? I know that there are other calendars too. But is more manageable IMO.
    - gruez 2y ago
      >What's wrong with using a calendar date like may the 1st? Usually it's because they want to keep it vague because the exact date (or even month) hasn't been set yet.
  - dathinab 2y ago
    yes, many non US firms do exactly that for international announcements: - use "second half of ", "begin of", 3 quartal of, etc. - or a specific month if they want to be more precise also for western focused announcements they also use "holliday session" as their tends to be a holliday session in most countries in both summer and winter (through their start differs _a lot_, but it tends to just work out if you release early enough)
    - cesarb 2y ago
      > use "second half of ", "begin of", 3 quartal of, etc. And they sometimes use their internal fiscal year, which doesn't align with the calendar year. So sometimes, when they speak of the "fourth quarter" of an year they are talking about the beginning of the next year, or in the opposite direction, they might speak of the "first quarter" of an year but they're talking about the end of the preceding year.
    - gruez 2y ago
      The meteorological dates for "summer" correspond to June 1 to August 31. That straddles 2 quarters and both halves of the year. What are you going to do if a product launch is in July (+- 1 month)? You can't really use Q3 or H2 because neither of them fully captures that 3 month period.
- account42 2y ago
  "a big percentage" being only 13%. I think this one is understandable.

aquova 2y ago

That's easy, it's the US and any Canadian city with an NHL team.

djtango 2y ago
I'd argue the UK is part of "the west"?
- ben_w 2y ago
  The UK is the old west (but not the Old West). London is in the global west, except for the whole thing with the Greenwich Meridian going through… Greenwich, east London. Not to be confused with East London, which is in South Africa, which fortunately is also in south Africa. The UK is definitely in the west of Europe though.

blitzar 2y ago

Its the World Series of Baseball.

ralgozino 2y ago

Somehow related, expressions like "next summer", "starting this spring" and such on public global announcements make absolutely nonsense if you are in the southern hemisphere (like a big percentage of the global population)

gruez 2y ago
What are they supposed to use instead? "Starting in Q3/H2"?
- ralgozino 2y ago
  Maybe you are not aware but while it is summer in the northern hemisphere in the southern hemisphere you have winter (and so on). So, speaking of seasons means exactly the opposite depending on which hemisphere you are. What's wrong with using a calendar date like may the 1st? I know that there are other calendars too. But is more manageable IMO.
  - gruez 2y ago
    >What's wrong with using a calendar date like may the 1st? Usually it's because they want to keep it vague because the exact date (or even month) hasn't been set yet.
- dathinab 2y ago
  yes, many non US firms do exactly that for international announcements: - use "second half of ", "begin of", 3 quartal of, etc. - or a specific month if they want to be more precise also for western focused announcements they also use "holliday session" as their tends to be a holliday session in most countries in both summer and winter (through their start differs _a lot_, but it tends to just work out if you release early enough)
  - cesarb 2y ago
    > use "second half of ", "begin of", 3 quartal of, etc. And they sometimes use their internal fiscal year, which doesn't align with the calendar year. So sometimes, when they speak of the "fourth quarter" of an year they are talking about the beginning of the next year, or in the opposite direction, they might speak of the "first quarter" of an year but they're talking about the end of the preceding year.
  - gruez 2y ago
    The meteorological dates for "summer" correspond to June 1 to August 31. That straddles 2 quarters and both halves of the year. What are you going to do if a product launch is in July (+- 1 month)? You can't really use Q3 or H2 because neither of them fully captures that 3 month period.
account42 2y ago
"a big percentage" being only 13%. I think this one is understandable.