4 ms·

Somehow related, expressions like "next summer", "starting this spring" and such on public global announcements make absolutely nonsense if you are in the south

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.
    - justinclift 2y ago
      Then use two seasons in the announcement. It's not hard. ;)
    - dathinab 2y ago
      say roughly around July but the we have not yet committed to an exact release month
      - gruez 2y ago
        "roughly around July but the we have not yet committed to an exact release month" sounds way more clunky than "this summer".
    - GJim 2y ago
      > The meteorological dates for "summer" correspond to June 1 to August 31 That is winter in the southern hemisphere. I'm amazed at the need to have to explain this to a grown adult: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/ https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/
      - gruez 2y ago
        Yes, I neglected to qualify "summer" with "northern hemisphere", but the substance of my comment doesn't meaningfully change with or without it, nor have I denied in other of my comments that "summer" is ambiguous depending on which hemisphere you're in. You're clearly just looking for stuff to nitpick.
  - GJim 2y ago
    > holiday session Classic example! In the US, people will normally assume you are talking about Christmas holidays. In Blighty, people will assume summer holidays.
account42 2y ago
"a big percentage" being only 13%. I think this one is understandable.

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.
  - justinclift 2y ago
    Then use two seasons in the announcement. It's not hard. ;)
  - dathinab 2y ago
    say roughly around July but the we have not yet committed to an exact release month
    - gruez 2y ago
      "roughly around July but the we have not yet committed to an exact release month" sounds way more clunky than "this summer".
  - GJim 2y ago
    > The meteorological dates for "summer" correspond to June 1 to August 31 That is winter in the southern hemisphere. I'm amazed at the need to have to explain this to a grown adult: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/ https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/
    - gruez 2y ago
      Yes, I neglected to qualify "summer" with "northern hemisphere", but the substance of my comment doesn't meaningfully change with or without it, nor have I denied in other of my comments that "summer" is ambiguous depending on which hemisphere you're in. You're clearly just looking for stuff to nitpick.
- GJim 2y ago
  > holiday session Classic example! In the US, people will normally assume you are talking about Christmas holidays. In Blighty, people will assume summer holidays.

account42 2y ago

"a big percentage" being only 13%. I think this one is understandable.