Wednesday's Meeting

[JamesMuenchen]

The Time-Perspective Question is Ambiguous in Swiss German, but not in Standard German[/i]

I expect I was taught Standard German, but I do recall that you had to watch out for the different idiom, so that "halb zehn" meant halfway to ten which would be expressed as half past nine in British English or half nine in American English.

Yes. And they can express 9:25 as "five to half ten" (fünf vor halb zehn). I have a suspicion it is this way of thinking that makes them more punctual.

You can push a car forward and you can push it back, and there is no misunderstanding as to which is what.

That's a brilliant example.

[JamesMuenchen]

The Time-Perspective Question is Ambiguous in Swiss German, but not in Standard German[/i]

I expect I was taught Standard German, but I do recall that you had to watch out for the different idiom, so that "halb zehn" meant halfway to ten which would be expressed as half past nine in British English or half nine in American English.

Yes. And they can express 9:25 as "five to half ten" (fünf vor halb zehn).

Also "what time is it?" is "how late is it?" (Wie spät ist es?)

I have a suspicion it's this way of thinking that makes them more punctual.

You can push a car forward and you can push it back, and there is no misunderstanding as to which is what.

That's a brilliant example.

[jfgw]

Those who see themselves as static, with the future moving towards them tend to give Monday as the answer...

I am not convinced that that is a correct answer as time is still "facing" forward.

Imagine that there is a car parked ahead and facing away from you. If you are walking toward it in a normal manner, you are moving forward. If you apply the basic principle of relativity and consider the situation from your own inertial reference frame, you are stationary and the car is moving toward you. It is moving backward, however.

I appreciate that definitions of words change over time but that does not mean that phrases can be defined independently and in a manner inconsistent with the definitions of those words. For example, "Three times less" is frequently used to mean "Two-thirds times less" but it will never be correct however much it is used.

Julian F. G. W.

[JamesMuenchen]

Those who see themselves as static, with the future moving towards them tend to give Monday as the answer...

I am not convinced that that is a correct answer

Me neither.

Nor even that, as a Monday person, I see myself as static in time. I don't think I do.

[jfgw]

Nor even that, as a Monday person, I see myself as static in time. I don't think I do.

I think it is more seeing yourself as static, with time flowing backwards through you. I normally think of myself as passing forward through time but the outcome is identical.

Julian F. G. W.

[GrahamPlatt]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/ ... -interview

[marronier]

Surely there is a clue in the word "forward" from "to the fore" i.e. ahead of , hence the meeting will be on Monday.

When the Sergeant says "Volunteers to take one step forward." , which way would a volunteer go?

[jfgw]

When the Sergeant says "Volunteers to take one step forward." , which way would a volunteer go?

Forwards. This could be toward the sergeant (if the sergeant is in front of the volunteer), away from the sergeant (if the volunteer's back is to the sergeant), or at some other angle to the sergeant.

If a clock shows 1am and you move it forward one hour, what time does it now show?

Julian F. G. W.

[jfgw]

Just to confuse things,

Explaining this signal requires the existence of a topsy-turvy universe created in the same big bang as our own and existing in parallel with it. In this mirror world, positive is negative, left is right and time runs backwards.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... s-in-time/


Julian F. G. W.

[Lootman]

If a clock shows 1am and you move it forward one hour, what time does it now show?

It is pretty obviously 2 a.m.

Or how about this? I come to you with a time machine I have just invented. I tell you we can either go forward in time 100 years or back in time 100 years.

Anyone here think that is 1920 and 2120, rather than 2120 and 1920 respectively?

In which case if we are using my time machine on a Wednesday and set it two days forward then we end up in Friday. "Forward" means forward in time, i.e. later. "Backwards" means backwards in time, i.e. earlier.

To the cited theory, I see myself as moving forwards in time rather than time moving backwards towards me. Then again I don't think the Earth is the centre of the universe either.

[mc2fool]

If a clock shows 1am and you move it forward one hour, what time does it now show?

And if you are having a meeting at the following 11am, does the meeting then happen sooner or later?

[mc2fool]

...if we are using my time machine on a Wednesday and set it two days forward then we end up in Friday. "Forward" means forward in time, i.e. later.

No, earlier. Before you had two days to wait until Friday. After using your time machine you don't have to wait at all. Going "forward" in time means it comes earlier.

[Lootman]

...if we are using my time machine on a Wednesday and set it two days forward then we end up in Friday. "Forward" means forward in time, i.e. later.

No, earlier. Before you had two days to wait until Friday. After using your time machine you don't have to wait at all. Going "forward" in time means it comes earlier.

That is certainly one way to look at it. But it would still be Friday and not Monday.

[mc2fool]

...if we are using my time machine on a Wednesday and set it two days forward then we end up in Friday. "Forward" means forward in time, i.e. later.

No, earlier. Before you had two days to wait until Friday. After using your time machine you don't have to wait at all. Going "forward" in time means it comes earlier.

That is certainly one way to look at it. But it would still be Friday and not Monday.

Ok, so you agree then that moving forward means reducing the amount of time to an event, that it will come earlier/sooner?

[Lootman]

No, earlier. Before you had two days to wait until Friday. After using your time machine you don't have to wait at all. Going "forward" in time means it comes earlier.

That is certainly one way to look at it. But it would still be Friday and not Monday.

Ok, so you agree then that moving forward means reducing the amount of time to an event, that it will come earlier/sooner?

If I understand you correctly, then you agree that it would be Friday, but you are adding that it would feel like Wednesday because you didn't have to wait two days for it to arrive.

Fair enough. But neither of us think it would be Monday (or feel like Monday), as per the original question.

[scotia]

Since I usually try to find an excuse to avoid committee meetings, I would not have attended on Monday, and if questions were asked about my absence, I would have said - I thought it was Friday. But if no one asked me about my Monday non-attendance, I wouldn't have turned up on Friday - and if the meeting was on Friday, and if questions were asked about my absence, I would have said I didn't see anyone at the Monday meeting (truthful) , so I assumed it was cancelled.
What box do I tick?

[kiloran]

I'm confused.... is the meeting tomorrow or not?
And..... where is it?

--kiloran

[XFool]

I'm confused.... is the meeting tomorrow or not?
And..... where is it?

--kiloran

You missed it. It was last Friday, or was it last Monday? Anyway, it was last week - it got moved. Sorry!

[jfgw]

Looking at the calendar on my wall, it was moved sideways.

Julian F. G. W.

[AleisterCrowley]

It's now been moved forward to midnight on Wednesday.
Ah....but which midnight ?