Which Direction Is Back When You Move Something Back A Week
In the tradition of asking the internet to clarify timing phrases (see the When Is Next Tuesday? post 686 days ago), I'll post another question.
I am always confused a little bit when someone mentions that an event has been "moved back."
So here's a simple question: If Dave is scheduled to give a presentation on the 15th of next month, and he can't make it on that day so he moves the presentation back a week, when is the presentation?
- the 8th
- the 22nd
What if Dave moves the presentation up a week?
Re: Which Direction Is Back When You Move Something Back A Week
The future and the past are always facing you, therefore the term "back" can mean something different depending on whether the event occurred in the past or is occurring in the future.
For example, if an even is in the future, see the event as facing toward you. If you move the event back, it moves ahead in time as it steps backward. If it moves forward, it takes a step toward you, thus going backward in time.
Something that has already happened cannot move, of course.
You have to keep the present in perspective as the center of all time.
Re: Which Direction Is Back When You Move Something Back A Week
While the other poster proposed a way to think about things that disambiguates things, the issue here is that not everyone follows the same convention. Moving something forward can mean "forward on the calendar" (later in time) or it can mean "toward the present" (earlier in time). Similar ambiguity holds for "backward".
English is simply ambiguous here, and the only way to resolve the issue is to make sure everyone is using the terms in the same way, or to avoid the terms by using other terms that are not ambiguous, such as "earlier" and "later".
Perhaps the simplest way to avoid the issue is to talk in terms of specific dates. This avoids the issue completely.