“At”, “by”, and “around” are different keywords for me. If I say that I will arrive at 3pm I will probably be there at 2:55pm and just wait in the area for a bit so that I can be uncannily punctual.
Someone can say “I’ll be there around 3pm” and I will know to not expect them at exactly 3pm. Most people tend to use this to mean ±15 minutes. With some people I need to remember to clarify what they mean by “around” because I have been waiting and ready to go for two hours and they are still not there.
“At”, “by”, and “around” are different keywords for me. If I say that I will arrive at 3pm I will probably be there at 2:55pm and just wait in the area for a bit so that I can be uncannily punctual.
Someone can say “I’ll be there around 3pm” and I will know to not expect them at exactly 3pm. Most people tend to use this to mean ±15 minutes. With some people I need to remember to clarify what they mean by “around” because I have been waiting and ready to go for two hours and they are still not there.
If someone is late by TWO HOURS my brain has gone to “they fucking exploded and died” at least twenty times. OH my goodness.
To be fair I’d started the waiting 30 minutes early so they were only 1.5 hours late. Was quite an anxious time though