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Thursday 11 April 2013

J is for Just now


(During the month of April we are participating in an A-Z challenge hosted by Arlee)

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"Just now" is a very popular saying here in Malaysia. In fact, you can hear it in virtually every conversation. It is probably over-used though, and used with the wrong sense of time. Here's a typical conversation:


"Did you call Mr. T to confirm with him?"

"Yeah, I called him just now."


My problem is when exactly is 'just now'? Turns out it could be a few minutes ago as much as it could be several hours ago or even yesterday!

The term 'just now' implies something that has happened VERY RECENTLY. I would say within the last hour.



Do you know of any other words that are over-used wrongly?


2 comments:

Colleen said...

Hahaha! That reminds me of the Brazilian use of time phrases. "It'll be ready tomorrow" means sometime in the next week or two. "Two weeks" means "it may be ready in year or never but I want to ensure you leave me alone for two weeks and then I'll make up another lie." "I'm coming home right now" means anything except right now. *sigh*

Grover said...

'literally' seems to be really overused at the moment. 'My world literally shattered' - did it? Did it REALLY?
Gah! You've got me all worked up now! Great post though ;)

Grover
Inane Ramblings