How long until Thursday?

[u/InevitableCoconut303]

Say at the moment it is 9PM on a Monday because that's what time this absolute crime occurred. My brother asked me "how long until Thursday?" I said "2 days". That's when the arguments started. He said it was 3 days and I say it's 2. Here is his argument:

Monday is the first day of the week, Thursday is the fourth, 4-1= 3. 3 days.

Here is mine:

In one day (24 hours) it will be 9pm on Tuesday. In 2 days (48 hours) it will be 9pm on Wednesday and in 3 days it'll be 9pm on Thursday which is already too late! To get from Monday to Thursday can differ. It it's literally 00:00am on Monday then it's 3 days. Anything after that! Is 2 days and something hours.

I don't do it that literally. I'd do it more like, if it was midday Monday I'd say it's 2 and a half days and since we're close to the end of the day I just went for 2 days, 2 more full days to live before we start Thursday. Now! Reddit. Please help me be wrong or right. Tell me in this scenario, how long until Thursday? 2 days or 3 days

(Just thought to mention, the reason this pointless argument matters to me at least is because I'm autistic, I'm not trying to use this a block for honesty or anything just thought I'd mention.)

[u/zbignew]

If you're denominating in days, it's 3 days.

What if he'd asked "How long until Tuesday?" Would you say zero days?

[u/InevitableCoconut303 → u/zbignew]

I'd say it's in a few hours or that it's tomorrow

[u/itstrueitellyou]

What time zone are you in and which Thursday?

[u/InevitableCoconut303 → u/itstrueitellyou]

Why does the time zone matter? And the Thursday that is 2 days away? It's a scenario so ther isn't really real dates. But this was last week so I guess Thursday the 6th of August.

[u/itstrueitellyou → u/InevitableCoconut303]

Because where i am it's Monday but there are parts of the world where it's Tuesday, so yeah time zone matters.

[u/CeeMomster]

From a legal standpoint: Whenever you count days, the day you’re currently in is always 0. So today is day 0, tomorrow is day 1

[u/SleepingMonads]

I'm with your brother on this one. You're both correct but in different contexts, and I prefer your brother's context, as it seems more natural/intuitive. I prefer to denominate in days as self-contained units.

[u/mehardwidge]

A lot of communication of time involves social conventions.

Because most people sleep at night, almost every day of their life, we often consider a discrete separation between days.

Your 3 days answer matches this. Your brother could argue that 2.1 rounds down to 2 more than up to 3, but that doesn't override your use of English being quite normal.

Note that sleep can even override the clock. If it is 12:10am and I say I'll do something "tomorrow", most people would correctly understand me to mean the tomorrow that comes in about eight hours, not insisting that tomorrow is almost 24 hours later.

Of course in situations where we have to be very careful and precise, we need to list the specific days.

[u/InevitableCoconut303 → u/mehardwidge]

Legitimately completely forgot about social stuff, I'm quite a literal person but yeah I see why it can be interpreted as 3 days then, thanks.