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Instant vs. Instantaneously 2

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ESquared

Programmer
Dec 23, 2003
6,129
US
To me, instantaneously has the sense of "without the passage of time." A teleporter might instantaneously move you to another galaxy. Instantly, though, has the sense of "very very soon" or "in a short period of time."

I can't look it up right now but I thought I'd toss this out for discussion.

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• Every joy is beyond all others. The fruit we are eating is always the best fruit of all.
• It is waking that understands sleep and not sleep that understands waking. There is an ignorance of evil that comes from being young: there is a darker ignorance that comes from doing it, as men by sleeping lose the k
 
I agree with Esquared:
Seems to me pretty much like the distinction between
continual and continuous in thread1256-974481

I'd use "instantly" in the meaning of "immediately", which more or less quantizes time (the very next instant)
wheras "instantaneous" has the meaning of "simultaneity" to me (the very same instant)

But it could just as well be I'm splitting hair here...


[blue]An eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]
 
Let's remember that "instant coffee" is coffee all along. There is no instance when instant coffee isn't already coffee. Therefore it is misnomered to begin with. A marketing ploy as CC points out.

Now if you are talking about drinkable coffee, then the moment the coffee is added to the water occurs in an instant. Instantaneously you have drinkable coffee. Either way it had better not be decaf.

~Thadeus
 
Thadeus said:
Let's remember that "instant coffee" is coffee all along
I severely doubt that!
Q:Why do you think do the Englishmen drink mainly tea?
A:Ever tasted their "instant coffee"?
[bigcheeks]

[blue]An eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]
 
Thadeus said:
Instantaneously you have drinkable coffee

I don't know about you, but I prefer to stir the instant coffee crystals until they dissolve. And I don't call it "drinkable coffee" until this has occurred. So I beg to differ... it's not instantaneous because it takes time to prepare, stirring and waiting (albeit a minuscule amount of time compared with that required to prepare "regular" coffee).
 
Continual and Continuous definitely have entirely different meanings.

Instantly v Instantaneously?

I'm going to have to side with ESquared.

Instantly tells me that something should or did occur with a sense of urgency, as fast as possible, without delay... on the part of whomever/whatever did the thing. Instantaneously tells me that whatever it was that happened, it's over now, and I have no sense of when it began or finished... I am now in a new state.

My mother often told me to "Get out of that tree this instant!", which I would instantly begin to ignore. She never asked that I get out of tree instantaneously... as would've needed to be already in full plummet to make it so.

I don't use the word "instantaneously" very much, and I probably won't. I has a rather sci-fi feel to it. I can't (off-hand) think of a thing that appears (to me) instantaneous. Things occur in an instant (light switch to light), but as a cause/effect relationship... instantaneous is a tough sell.

[red]Note:[/red] [gray]The above comments are the opinionated ravings of Mr3Putt. As such, Mr3Putt accepts no responsibility for damages, real or contrived, resulting from acceptance of his opinions as fact.[/gray]
 
Aha! Quantum-coupling! Two things happening instantaneously.

Maybe that is the key to understanding the difference.

Instantly = in the NEXT instant
Instantaneously = in the SAME instant
 
Brilliant! and perfectly selfexplanatory...
Why didn't you guessed it sooner?:-D
 
>Why didn't you guessed it sooner?

Probably because the second post in this thread said "Intantaneously means at the same instant as another event"?
 
See, Dimandja was on the right track all along.
 
Importancy of a showing...
Shown like this

Instantly = in the NEXT instant
Instantaneously = in the SAME instant

it was very clear.

Said like this:
"Intantaneously means at the same instant as another event"?
it was for for group of people with larger IQ then normal

So anyway I will make it tie!!!!
I hope these stars not account for in real forum :)

 
I agree with esquared.

If you make instant coffee instantly, you immediately press the brew button and wait for it to be made.

If you make it instantaneously, you go to the computer, say authoritavely "Computer. Coffee." and it magically materializes right away. Just like they do in Star Trek.
 
Don't want to complain, but isn't that exactly what I wrote?
(-:

[blue]An eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]
 
MakeItSo,
reminds me of a joke when reader asked horrible untalented writer after reading his discuisting book...
-Sir, have you EVER read your book?
-No! answered writer
I am not A READER, I am A WRITER...
 
ESquared said:
Instantly = in the NEXT instant
Instantaneously = in the SAME instant
When does the SAME instant begin/end?
When does the NEXT instant begin/end?
Give that an instant is an indeterminate period of time, how do you determine when the current instant ends and the next instant begins? How can you distinguish between the two if instants are indeterminate?

Good Luck
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>CC, had you absolutely HAD to do this?

ZZ, he's incorrigible.
 
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