RWO: Now, Now

Jess writes:

“Now”, almost never actually means “now”. Here, we are on “African Time”, so “now” quite literally translates to “probably not in the foreseeable future, at all.” In fact, there is a common phrase, “Now, now”, which translates to “possibly sometime soon.” And we have actually heard someone use the phrase “Now, now, now, now” and were surprised to find out that this legitimately meant “seriously, pretty soon.” It’s wonderfully unique… and confusing.