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My wife and I have a disagreement about "the other day". I use it to mean, a time up to two years ago. She uses it to mean up to no more than a month. I thin
by RajT88 1y ago
My wife and I have a disagreement about "the other day".
I use it to mean, a time up to two years ago. She uses it to mean up to no more than a month.
I think the disagreement is because I have a better memory - two years ago does not feel so distant to me. It is a silly and fun thing to argue about, leading to some agreements on terminology:
A while ago - 2- 10 years
Back in the day - 10+ years ago
And just to troll her, I boldly make the claim, "just now" means any time between now and a week ago.
- Zobat 1y agoI'd claim that the time ranges for these depend on what we're talking about. "I had a sandwich a while ago" is wastly different from "they had a child a while ago". "The other day" and "back in the day" might not differ as much but still...
- _carbyau_ 1y agoOh no, a whole new bunch of time-wimey words I hadn't even considered! :-) I'm no authority but to me using "the other day" as a phrase is trying to impart a rough reference to a point in time. Which means we're talking in "day" timeframes where week or month wouldn't be suitable. I would expect "the other day" to be within a week, but accept no more than a month. Similarly "some months ago" = probably less than 6 months but definitely no more than a year. The world is a wonderful place and the ways we humans can confuse communication seemingly knows no bounds. But I don't want a proscriptive definition for each little casual phrase as I think this flexibility in language is why it keeps changing and being alive!