We all have that friend. The one who's continually late and can never make it on time to anything, and everyone else knows not to expect them on time. It's gotten to the point where if I'm meeting my friends for dinner, I'll tell everyone else to meet at 7:00, and my friend at 6:30, just to make sure he shows up on time. It worked the first couple times, but now he's now beginning to catch on.
So while I was waiting for the hundredth time, it gave me some comfort (though not much) knowing that I'm not the only one who's been in this situation. In fact, it seems people have been waiting for their ever-tardy friends since Ye Olde times.
Looking at the history words related to time, it's interesting to see how a regular pattern:
soon used to mean "immediately", and synonyms like anon used to mean "immediately" as well. Dictionary.com says that presently can either mean "soon" or "immediately", which is showing a similar shift like the other words as well.
It kinda makes sense as to how this happens - because "i'll be there in a minute" has become so overused, no one really takes that phrase literally, and now not many people would really differentiate the differences in duration in the sayings "I'll be there in a minute" and "I'll be there in a sec". Since I've known my friend since 1997, I know to double whatever timeframe he says. If he tells me he'll take 5 minutes, I've got at least 10 minutes before he arrives, and if he says 15 - well, it's worth grabbing a seat or find something to do for half an hour - like ponder the topic of my next blog post.
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2 comments:
Another interesting word in this vein (is that the right word?) we discovered when moving from New Zealand to Canada.
Over there we would often hear, "I'll be there 'momentarily'". Which meant "I'll be there soon". To my ears though it sounds like they would be there for a moment, and then be gone.
Of course our stay in Canada was but momentary, and we are now safely back in New Zealand where we use the word correctly :)
- James
BTW: I'm also notorious for being late especially for social events (rather than work commitments). It seems in the group of people I socialise with it has almost become the norm to arrive half an hour after the specified time. A few times I've turned up to things at the stated time to find surpised hosts not expecting anyone for another half an hour. Maybe some form of subculture?
Glad to know our Kiwi neighbours know how to use English properly! :) Thanks for the info about "momentarily" - never heard that being used before!
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