When someone says “a month or so” or “a week or so” etc, how long can one assume the “or so” to mean? Is it a certain part of the day or week or month or other time frame they are speaking of?
I wouldn’t say it means any time length. I would say “a month or so” is functionally equivalent to “approximately a month.”
Some fraction of the time period that’s being referenced.
“A month, give or take a few days.”
“A week, give or take a day or two.”
This isn’t really a GQ answer, but I don’t think this is a GQ question:
“A month or so” means closer to a month than to another convenient approximation like a week or two months.
It’s indefinite, akin to “approximately.” However, I think “a month or so” is generally used to mean “a month or a bit longer” rather than “a month, more or less.”
One standard deviation, as loosely conceptualized by the speaker. Usually less than ten percent of the quantity being or-so-ed.
BTW, this seems to me like an IMHO sort of question, but I’ll leave it to others to make that call.
About THAT long. Jesus, I hate to carp on this, but did no one teach you to cook? “Or so” is about how long it takes it to happen. Duh. :mad:
A month or so is longer than a month but shorter than 6 weeks.
But it may also be used even when the speaker is certain that the elapsed time will be exactly a month but for some reason doesnt want to be accountable for adhering to that specific deadline. For example If I am telling a friend that I’ll be able to drop by to return the dish they left at my house in the next week or so, I have more room to adjust according to whatever comes up than if I say I’ll drop by next Tuesday.
Hedda, don’t encourage him. He needs to learn that time is relative and specific time is worthless. 
‘a month or so’ is less than two months, otherwise it would be ‘a couple of months’.
I always took it to mean “I don’t know exactly, a month is my best estimate but since some people are very pendantic about such matters I’ll put ‘or so’ at the end of the phrase.”
A month or so doesn’t have to be longer than a month at all. If I say “a month or so” then it could be anything between about three and six weeks, possibly longer or even not at all if money is involved.
It means a smidgen more than a month, or a smidgen less than a month.
I’m not so sure. It could be a tad more (or less) than a smidgen either way.
My name isn’t Jesus. English is not my native language and although I am fairly fluent sometimes subtleties are not that clear to me. Thought I’d ask native speakers to clear that up for me. Feel free to ignore my post.
Thanks to the other posters who have aoffered explanations. Apparently there is no consensus and it is just a vague term.
In the IT world, “a month or so” means “we estimate about a month and a half but it will actually end up taking 3-6”.
“Jesus,” in this case, is a swear word to fill a gap in the conversation. And I hate it when people I have known for years turn out to speak English better than I.
Sorry for the lack of subtly, but I’ve been dealing lately with adult daughters who should know that they should keep a bloody eye on what they were cooking. “Or so” is the cooking equivalent to carpentry’s “about ye.” As in, “it will take about that long, keep an eye on it after that.”
Oh dear, I’m going idiomatic again. English is overloaded with idioms. “It will take that long, plus or minus a minute or two.” Just curious, what is your original language?
hijack: As someone who’s finally convinced her mid-30s brother than even something as simple as cooking penne pasta with storebought sauce needs the cook to Stay In The Kitchen, you have all my sympathy.
Roasts, you can leave the kitchen. Things that involve hot water or oil, no. He couldn’t understand why I didn’t need to clean my stovetop after cooking anything, while his looked like the remains of a battle after a single dish…
/hijack
I bought a new piece of furniture in mid-December. The lady at the store said “it will take a month or so”; I figured mid-January but with Christmas, I’d get it in February. Imagine my delighted surprise when they called me to tell me they’d deliver Jan 4th. In that case, “a month or so” (well, its Spanish equivalent) turned out to be 2 weeks.
Paying a debt - never
Completing a task - 3 times the period mentioned
Going to the doctor (male) - after it is too late
Going to the doctor (female) - tomorrow
Making contact after a first date (male) - never
Making contact after a first date (female) - never
Hearing about a job interview - never or too late
Pregnancy test - far too fucking soon