# "Pushed Back" vs. "Pushed Forward" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736 "2008-05-09T20:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/1 "2008-05-09T20:06:03Z")
I saw it again today-somone (USA Today) used the term to describe the change in the start time for the Indy 500. Used to be 12 noon local time, but then they moved it to 1 pm. I see that as pushing the start time “forward”, as in forward in time; pushing back would be going back in time, right? Am I crazy or is it just the rest of the world? Have I seen too many time-traveling movies for my own good? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/2 "2008-05-09T20:13:35Z")
That’s how I interpret it too. ‘Pushed forward’ = later in time; ‘Pulled back’ = earlier in time. But I have the impression that others use this oppositely. As a result of this confusion, I never use the expression. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/3 "2008-05-09T20:24:23Z")
Idioms don’t have to be strictly logical. Pushing back works as an idiom because it conveys an image of pushing a starting time farther away - i.e. “back” - from “now.” Pushing forward conveys the image of moving the time into the future - the future is forward. It doesn’t matter that, in other contexts, back and forward are opposites. Slowing up and slowing down also mean the same thing. English is full of pairs of idiomatic expressions like these. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/4 "2008-05-09T20:29:06Z")
Example sentence which works for me: Rainy weather has caused construction delays so the Grand Opening of the new store has been pushed back to June first. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/5 "2008-05-09T20:52:29Z")
Note that it can also be dependent on whether you are talking about future dates or past dates. The natural interpretation is that “pushed” is away from the current time, so: The deadline for contest entry has been pushed back to August 15 suggests to me that it’s later, while: As further evidence has come to light, historians have pushed back the time of the Snuffleguppian conquest to the third century. suggests to me that it is being revised to an earlier date. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/6 "2008-05-09T21:16:28Z")
The idiomatic opposite of “pushed back” (_delayed_) is, inexplicably, “moved up.” “Pushed back” makes sense if you think of it as moving it farther away. “Moved up” makes sense if you think of one of those page-a-day calendars that start at 7am at the top and go down to 7pm at the bottom. Other than that, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/7 "2008-05-09T22:13:43Z")
As a result of subscribing to Word-A-Day, I have recently discovered that there is a specific word that would cover events in the future: prepone. It is used, as can be deduced, to indicate that a scheduled event is going to happen sooner than announced. If we have a 4 o’clock meeting scheduled, I might postpone it to 5 o’clock, or I might prepone it to 3 o’clock. Obviates the alleged confusion when using “pushing back.” xo, C. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/8 "2008-05-09T22:23:20Z")
It has always seemed clear to me. If an event has been pushed back, then I expect it to occur at a later time than originally expected. If it was pushed forward, I’d expect it to occur at an earlier time. Due to rain, the start of the game has been pushed back to 7 pm [from 6pm] To avoid rush hour traffic, the meeting has been pushed forward to 3pm [from 4pm] I like preponed. People should use that more! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/9 "2008-05-09T22:54:10Z")
For making something earlier than originally planned, I would say “brought forward”. Or “preponed”, if I wanted to be pompous. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/10 "2008-05-09T23:37:03Z")
**KneadToKnow** is on the right track. To make sense of most of idioms, you have to be in the right metaphor. If you’re thinking of time as a horizontal line that you move through in the direction you face, you’ll be confused by people who are thinking of it as rushing by them while they stand still. And we usually equate up with forward and down with back, but then the daily planner metaphor contradicts the moving forward through time metaphor. You can read all about this in chapter 4 of Stephen Pinker’s _The Stuff of Thought_. Personally, I think we already have a perfectly unambiguous directional metaphor: The meeting was moved counterclockwise an hour so we could all get out earlier. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/11 "2008-05-10T01:10:42Z")
I interpret “pushed forward” as “earlier,” and “pushed back” as “later.” But I can understand interpreting it the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/12 "2008-05-10T01:49:13Z")
[QUOTE=J Cubed] Personally, I think we already have a perfectly unambiguous directional metaphor: The meeting was moved counterclockwise an hour so we could all get out earlier. [/QUOTE] How does that work in a digital clock world? We already have kids who don’t know what “a quarter of” means. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/13 "2008-05-10T02:41:51Z")
[QUOTE=CC] As a result of subscribing to Word-A-Day, I have recently discovered that there is a specific word that would cover events in the future: prepone. It is used, as can be deduced, to indicate that a scheduled event is going to happen sooner than announced. If we have a 4 o’clock meeting scheduled, I might postpone it to 5 o’clock, or I might prepone it to 3 o’clock. Obviates the alleged confusion when using “pushing back.” [/QUOTE] ISTR reading that that was from Indian English. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pushed-back-vs-pushed-forward/448736/14 "2008-05-10T03:10:05Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] How does that work in a digital clock world? We already have kids who don’t know what “a quarter of” means. [/QUOTE] [hijack] That’s got nothing to do with digital clocks. It’s not us kids that’re stupid, it’s the expression. The use of the word “of” in this context makes no sense. “Of” does not describe relative position of space or time in any way. If you used “A quarter til” or “a quarter after”, you wouldn’t have that problem. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again…the idea that young-but-functional adults can’t read an analogue clock is a myth. It’s like the guy today that told me “young kids” can’t pick up women “the old fashioned way”, i.e. talking to them. Apparently we run around texting “Hey baby, sup?” Ugh [/hijack]