this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2026
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xkcd #3232: Countdown Standard

Title text:

Anyone who is caught counting 'three ... two ... one ... zero ... GO!' will be punished with a lifetime of eating only ISO standard food samples.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3232/

explainxkcd for #3232

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[–] Alberat@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

on Sunday my friend said we should hangout "this weekend" (he meant Saturday) and i corrected him saying that would be "next weekend" ... I'm right, right?

[–] davetortoise@reddthat.com 2 points 1 week ago

Yes, youre right

No, you're wrong. This weekend means the next up coming weekend. Next weekend means the one after that. Unless you were talking super early on Sunday morning and you were confused whether he meant that afternoon. But like, critical thinking skills are important in communication.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

I think you’re both right, but this is a great reason for ISO8601. This weekend is the weekend in the current week. In most of the world it’s Monday-Sunday which makes this way clearer, in which case he would have said “next weekend” and you would be completely correct, but if you’re in a country that starts on a Sunday then “this weekend” is two things. Sunday and Saturday, with 5 days in between. Since you were already in part of the two parter you could only be referring to the next part, the upcoming Saturday, part of this week.