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A job application in England wants applications to arrive by the 30th. I understand this to mean by the end of the 30th (in London time). The accepted answer to this question appears to indicate the same. However, it is now clear that the English who posted this meant by the beginning of the 30th, meaning the end of the 29th. This surprised not only myself, but also a Canadian colleague. This happened at two independent instances.

Is there a difference between American/Canadian English and British English in what is colloquially meant with by the 30th, by Friday, etc.?

(The related question Does "notified by [date]" include the end date? does not address whether there is an American/British English difference)

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gerrit
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  • The responses in the thread you link to do not give a definitive answer (except that most agree on the ambiguity). This ambiguity does not become resolved half way across the Atlantic. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 05 '15 at 15:49
  • Agreed with Edwin: the construction is inherently ambiguous, and is not unambiguous in either AmE or BrE. – Dan Bron Feb 05 '15 at 15:57
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    The general understanding is that those who make this kind of statement may interpret it anyway they wish to and that those who are expected to abide by the requirements should err on the side of caution (or find they must ask for mercy when the time arrives). – Canis Lupus Feb 05 '15 at 15:58
  • It usually means 'before I start my long weekend at 12:30 on Friday the 30th'. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 05 '15 at 16:02
  • @EdwinAshworth That seems odd. If they receive 20 applications 30 minutes they go on their long weekend, they won't do much to look through them before Monday morning. The question however was if there is any BrE/AmE difference. It appears from the comments there is not. – gerrit Feb 05 '15 at 16:04
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    Even if something arrives by the end of the day on the 30th, it still technically satisfies the requirement of "by the 30th", IMO. – Kristina Lopez Feb 05 '15 at 16:45
  • @Kristina Lopez For something to be proved to have arrived, there has to be someone there to give a receipt. Surely we're talking about pragmatics, how language is actually used / abused, rather than strict logic here. Would you stay behind till 12 midnight so that you could avoid wrongly penalising applicants? Or write 'If you can't use English correctly, I don't want your $1 000-a-day job'? – Edwin Ashworth Feb 05 '15 at 16:55
  • @EdwinAshworth It is reasonably easy to tell when e-mails have arrived. – gerrit Feb 05 '15 at 16:57
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    @EdwinAshworth There have been a number of questions on this matter. I think they arise out of the fact that email is now the pre-eminent way of communicating. When we relied on the post, sometimes advertisers would say something like, applications received by first post on 31st July will be considered. If that wasn't stated I think it was, to most people, an implied condition. And we haven't got out of the habit of just giving a date. But now we are in the email age, I tend to agree with Kristina - see comment above. But I also agree that applicants should err on the side of caution. – WS2 Feb 05 '15 at 17:24
  • My pragmatics seem to need updating. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 05 '15 at 17:32
  • I would think that Americans would be *more likely* to use "by" for arriving by the beginning of the day, since they have the option of saying "through the 30th". – Peter Shor Feb 05 '15 at 17:47

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In law, this question has been heavily litigated in both countries over many centuries and many situations. In Anglo-American law, the answer is "by the close of business on the date stated" unless the writing clearly means something else. If, for example, the contract read, "Payment must be delivered before June 15th," then the deadline is June 14th.

Unless you are dealing with a law firm or willing to sue over the issue, then as one commentator said, it is up to the institution to interpret their own rule.

hunterhogan
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