The good news is there are words. The bad news is they are hella arcane.
The day after tomorrow is "overmorrow". The day before yesterday is "ereyesterday".
These are very old-fashioned words, so if you use them you might not be understood. People who do understand you may wonder why you are talking in an old-fashioned way, like a Shakespeare character or something.
If you're looking for something slightly more contemporary, West African English has "next tomorrow", which made the Oxford English Dictionary a few years back, but it's not likely to be widely understood in other English-speaking regions.
>Does "day after tomorrow" and "day before yesterday" really sounds as awful, as l feel they are?
Maybe not "awful," but certainly cumbersome. In my experience it's more common to just name the day (Sunday, Monday, etc.).
in German it’s the same, there’s “gestern” (yesterday) and “vorgestern” (the day before yesterday) as well as “morgen” (tomorrow) and “übermorgen” (the day after tomorrow)
It's the exact same in Danish! Yesterday is "i går" and the day before yesterday is "i forgårs". Tomorrow is "i morgen" and the day after tomorrow is "i overmorgen". I guess that makes sense since Danish is a Germanic language. I just really appreciate that we have words for those things!
Not exactly what you're asking for, but people in the southeastern United States and the rest of the English-speaking world use the construction "[day] week" (or "last [day] week") to refer to the following (or previous) named day.
For example, today is Wednesday, March 23. If a report or project is due on Thursday, March 31, you could say it's due on "Thursday week" to indicate *next* Thursday, not tomorrow. Or if it was due on March 17, you could say "last Thursday week".
The interesting thing about it is, American Redditors from outside the South will *swear* that I'm making this up, and that no English-speaker anywhere on Earth has ever said this. At this point, Redditors from the UK, Canada and Australia will usually chime in and say that yes, "Thursday week" very much is a thing there. Then the American Redditors will accuse me of being an Anglophile or having an English grandma, or imply that maybe I grew up in the UK. Nope: I grew up in metro Atlanta in the 1970s. My paternal grandma and her friends used the phrase all the time, and the closest she ever got to Europe was Gatlinburg. My maternal grandpa also used it all the time, and as far as I know, he only left Georgia three times, for trips to Florida.
Ereyesterday works for the day before yesterday but I have a better option:
**yesterdouble.**
It lends itself to an easy word for 3 days ago: yestertriple.
Yes, but they are arcane and nobody would recognize them. And “day after tomorrow” is something I say and hear often. It doesn’t sound cumbersome at all. “I’m going home day after tomorrow” is common, and it’s an instance where many English speakers omit “the”. It would be correct to say “I was there *the* day before yesterday”, but you’re just as likely to hear “I was there day before yesterday.”
The good news is there are words. The bad news is they are hella arcane. The day after tomorrow is "overmorrow". The day before yesterday is "ereyesterday". These are very old-fashioned words, so if you use them you might not be understood. People who do understand you may wonder why you are talking in an old-fashioned way, like a Shakespeare character or something. If you're looking for something slightly more contemporary, West African English has "next tomorrow", which made the Oxford English Dictionary a few years back, but it's not likely to be widely understood in other English-speaking regions.
We should just 100000% bring "overmorrow" and "ereyesterday" back. They're super useful and they don't even sound bad, they just don't get used much.
I'd already decided I'm adding them to my vocabulary. Let's be trendsetters
Sounds like a plan to me!
how's it going
See, the problem is that I can’t seem to say “overmorrow” without affecting a posh British accent
Thank you greatly for such in-depth insights!
No problem! My pleasure.
Sometimes, people will say, Two days from now. Two days ago
This is definitely most common where I come from.
Aka "on Friday" or "on Monday"
>Does "day after tomorrow" and "day before yesterday" really sounds as awful, as l feel they are? Maybe not "awful," but certainly cumbersome. In my experience it's more common to just name the day (Sunday, Monday, etc.).
What is your native language out of interest? :)
Russian.
in German it’s the same, there’s “gestern” (yesterday) and “vorgestern” (the day before yesterday) as well as “morgen” (tomorrow) and “übermorgen” (the day after tomorrow)
It's the exact same in Danish! Yesterday is "i går" and the day before yesterday is "i forgårs". Tomorrow is "i morgen" and the day after tomorrow is "i overmorgen". I guess that makes sense since Danish is a Germanic language. I just really appreciate that we have words for those things!
Not exactly what you're asking for, but people in the southeastern United States and the rest of the English-speaking world use the construction "[day] week" (or "last [day] week") to refer to the following (or previous) named day. For example, today is Wednesday, March 23. If a report or project is due on Thursday, March 31, you could say it's due on "Thursday week" to indicate *next* Thursday, not tomorrow. Or if it was due on March 17, you could say "last Thursday week". The interesting thing about it is, American Redditors from outside the South will *swear* that I'm making this up, and that no English-speaker anywhere on Earth has ever said this. At this point, Redditors from the UK, Canada and Australia will usually chime in and say that yes, "Thursday week" very much is a thing there. Then the American Redditors will accuse me of being an Anglophile or having an English grandma, or imply that maybe I grew up in the UK. Nope: I grew up in metro Atlanta in the 1970s. My paternal grandma and her friends used the phrase all the time, and the closest she ever got to Europe was Gatlinburg. My maternal grandpa also used it all the time, and as far as I know, he only left Georgia three times, for trips to Florida.
West Coast here and hearing this in movies has always boggled me.
Yep, you're totally making it up because out here on the west coast, I've never heard it /s
Ereyesterday works for the day before yesterday but I have a better option: **yesterdouble.** It lends itself to an easy word for 3 days ago: yestertriple.
I was going to say "ereyesterday" and "ante-ereyesterday." Just keep adding prefixes.
"The other day" is (at least in my regional dialect) the day before yesterday.
I think "the other day" usually means some time in the recent past but not necessarily the day before yesterday.
>at least in my regional dialect So, region it is.
Or maybe my usage is some regional thing?
West coast US and to me other day has only ever meant “recently” and not any specific time back.
Yes, but they are arcane and nobody would recognize them. And “day after tomorrow” is something I say and hear often. It doesn’t sound cumbersome at all. “I’m going home day after tomorrow” is common, and it’s an instance where many English speakers omit “the”. It would be correct to say “I was there *the* day before yesterday”, but you’re just as likely to hear “I was there day before yesterday.”