Comments on: See you today… tomorrow… in 12 hours… look, I’ll just see you.

By: LeV

LeV — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:25:48 +0000

Usually me and my friends are using “today” and “tomorrow” the same way you do, which becomes even more interessting when sender and receiver are located in different time zones. Some of my friends misunderstand me intentionally, because it’s fun to play with meaning. But if real problems occur, people can check the meaning in conversation. But the problem with indexical terms is worse in written language. I once came to the class room and on the blackboard were these words: Class today in room x/y. So i wondered if it was a leftover from yesterday and pointed to someone else or if it was from today and my class was in another room.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:53:31 +0000

I tend to use it as you do, although, thinking about it, it has a bit more to do with when the sun comes up, and what is happening in the more mainstream time, too.

For instance: If it’s 3:30am, and I’m still awaks, then 7:00 is ‘tomorrow’.. If it’s 3:30am and I’m up at that crazy hour to catch a flight, etc, then 7:00 is ‘today’ However, if it’s 6:00am and I somehow have not made it in to bed, that’s probably still ‘tomorrow’, because the next day has so clearly started. Sometimes this is because it is light, but in winter, it mostly has to do with the fact that most people would consider that to be the start of their day.

The trouble, then, is where is the line? At what time between, say, 4:00 and 5:30 does today slip over to tomorrow? Confusing.

By: jerry

jerry — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:37:02 +0000

When I worked graveyard shift, my co-workers and I would unintentionally (if we were being sincere) or intentionally (if we were in a bad mood or sleep-deprived) pervert the whole today/tomorrow convention.

Such an exchange wouldn’t be unheard of when leaving work at 6am, with the intention of returning on that same calendar day at 10pm:

Me: “Good night.”
Co-worker: “Thanks. See ya tonight.”

By: GeoffB

GeoffB — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:48:19 +0000

Even when working the late shift or pulling all-nighters in grad school, sleep has usually been my dividing line. However, if I’m still up at 5:15AM when someone else arises, I won’t make them stay in yesterday just because I haven’t made it to today yet.

By: Arthaey Angosii

Arthaey Angosii — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:49:47 +0000

“Nocturnolinguistics” — nice.

I’m also a night owl, and my usage follows sleep cycles as well. If I’m talking with a 12:01 sort of person, I will say “technically today” if they dislike my use of “tomorrow.”

Sometimes I have stayed up past sunrise. In these cases, sunrise trumps sleep cycles for me and it automatically becomes “tomorrow.” In which case I take it a sign that I really should stop messing around on the computer and get some sleep. :)

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 02:17:00 +0000

Today and tomorrow are distinguished for me by sleep. If it is 2 am and I am going to bed I say “I will see you tomorrow” regardless of the fact that technically I will see you later today. This habit does make things confusing if I pull an allnighter. No sleep to divide my days!

By: Elizabeth B

Elizabeth B — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:50:09 +0000

The Jewish sabbath is also on the sunset time schedule.

According to Wikipedia about Shabbat: It is observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night.

By: Jangari

Jangari — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 07:57:41 +0000

And Sunny, Happy birthday to your Dad. It’s mine too today (in fact, it’s ‘today’, as in Sunday, for everyone by now).

By: Jangari

Jangari — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 07:56:04 +0000

Initially I agreed with the sleep-as-daily-boundary point of view, but then there are always irregularities.

When I was younger I used to be of the midnight-is-daily-boundary camp, but only in an immature respect; tripping people up for saying ‘today’ when they mean ‘yesterday’, and so on.

More recently, I used to work quite early on Sundays and would see people on their way home on Saturday night (there, see what I did?). We both agree that the time is what it is, but we may disagree about whether it is still ‘today’ (Saturday night) or now ‘tomorrow’ (Sunday morning).

Hmm, is it even important that independent observers agree considering their frame of reference? man, this is so Einsteinian.

Off the track slightly, but apparently most cultures in Papua Niugini (New Guinea) recognise sunset as the daily boundary.

By: Elizabeth B

Elizabeth B — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 04:50:23 +0000

I’m a bit of a night owl myself and view tomorrow as after I’ve slept as well. My husband has the same view, but likes to make sarcastic jokes about the linguistic ambiguity. He’ll say something like “it is tomorrow,” or “don’t you mean today?” He especially likes to trip people up with this at a few minutes after midnight, when you might not have noticed that the next day had technically arrived.

On a somewhat related note, I think the Anglish words aftermorrow and fore-yester (dash added to prevent phonetic ambiguity) should be incorporated into English. Most other languages have these terms, and they are quite useful. I’ve also wondered if languages with these terms don’t have a more concrete idea of 2 days ago and 2 days from now. I also wonder if the Brits have a more concrete feeling for how long 2 weeks are as they frequently use the word fortnight.