# Poll: time perception **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222 "2009-08-12T21:01:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/1 "2009-08-12T21:01:08Z")
From [BoingBoing](http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/12/the-surprising-links.html):Here’s a test: let’s say a meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been moved forward two days. What is the new day of the meeting? If you think it’s Friday, you imagine time as something you move through. If you think it’s Monday, you think of time as something that passes by you. [/quote] The researchers then claim that Friday people are angrier. I’m a Friday, but I think I’m pretty chill. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/2 "2009-08-12T21:05:51Z")
Of course the Friday people are angrier. The meeting got moved to Monday and the Friday people wasted time showing up to an empty room. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/3 "2009-08-12T21:07:12Z")
I guess time passes by me. It’s ambiguous, but take its opposite. If the meeting was moved back two days, I wouldn’t expect it on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/4 "2009-08-12T22:12:30Z")
Funny, I’d say Friday; but if you’d said the meeting was moved UP two days instead of FORWARD, I’d automatically say Monday. I don’t see anything that indicates the study took into account language regionalisms. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/5 "2009-08-12T22:20:59Z")
My first thought was that the meeting was now on Monday ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/6 "2009-08-12T22:28:26Z")
I’m a Monday guy. I would think this has to more to do with upbringing then your sense of reality. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/7 "2009-08-12T22:34:24Z")
I’m kind of shocked that anyone would think it was Monday. Interesting. I, personally, am not an angry person, though, so I don’t agree with that part of it. Interesting study…I’d like to hear more details about it. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/8 "2009-08-12T23:00:38Z")
Definitely Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/9 "2009-08-12T23:02:42Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I’m kind of shocked that anyone would think it was Monday. Interesting. I, personally, am not an angry person, though, so I don’t agree with that part of it. Interesting study…I’d like to hear more details about it. OK…read some of the comments. I was so “time moves forward” in my thinking that I was imagining people saying that the meeting would be the _next_ monday (skipping the weekend), not the monday before the wed in question. Which totally makes no sense, and I didn’t see how anyone could see it that way. But now I get it. Seems to be somewhat related to corporate linguistics. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/10 "2009-08-12T23:06:03Z")
Definitely Monday. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/11 "2009-08-12T23:33:19Z")
My head hurts. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/12 "2009-08-12T23:40:23Z")
Forward means it happens sooner, so Monday it is. For those who thinks that Forward means the meeting now happens on Friday, what would you say if the meeting had been “pushed back”? ---
**Author:** ![TheScogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@TheScogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheScogg)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/13 "2009-08-12T23:41:58Z")
I would think it would have more to do with being from a culture that reads from left to right. When I was working it out in my head, I pictured the week layed out as M-T-W-T-F-S-S. Starting at W and moving forward (that is, the direction in which I was already moving) puts me at Friday. As I think about it though, I can see how somebody that was excited about attending the meeting would think of the "forward’ (as opposed to "pushed back) as meaning Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/14 "2009-08-12T23:44:00Z")
Monday But never ever on a Sunday a Sunday the one day I need a little rest.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/15 "2009-08-12T23:56:26Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Forward means it happens sooner, so Monday it is. Something that moves forward is doing something at a later time than when it started. Like an army marching forward. Every step is later than the previous. To move forward in time is to move toward the future. To move back in time is to move toward the past. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/16 "2009-08-13T00:05:18Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > To move forward in time is to move toward the future. To move back in time is to move toward the past. While I have attended many meetings that I’d have happily scheduled into the past, that’s not how things usually work. 🙂 Though I’d be happy to try your interpretation next time my client says that the deadline has been moved forward a week. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/17 "2009-08-13T00:11:13Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > While I have attended many meetings that I’d have happily scheduled into the past, that’s not how things usually work. 🙂 > > Though I’d be happy to try your interpretation next time my client says that the deadline has been moved forward a week. 😃 Well, obviously the terminology is ambiguous. I was merely trying to point that out. Although if someone told me that a deadline had been moved forward, I would ask for the specific date of the new deadline. It only seems prudent. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/18 "2009-08-13T00:25:20Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Well, obviously the terminology is ambiguous. I was merely trying to point that out. OK. I read it as a statement of your position / opinion / reading of the question. Rather than an example of the ambiguity. > [@](#): > > Although if someone told me that a deadline had been moved forward, I would ask for the specific date of the new deadline. It only seems prudent. Indeed. And I would ask them what they wanted de-scoped. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/19 "2009-08-13T01:21:57Z")
Monday. But I wouldn’t say ‘moved forward’, I’d say ‘brought forward’. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222/20 "2009-08-13T11:58:10Z")
Sallied forth? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-time-perception/506222.md?page=2)