Arriving, coming and reaching - how to say you have arrived

On a Duolingo forum, discussing Esperanto translated into English, somebody asked,
What is the difference between coming, arriving and reaching?

Here are my answers:
Coming?
Coming can be like travelling.
'Which direction did you come from?'

It can also be an indefinite time.
'He came to stay for a year.'

Movement
I am coming - constant movement. Imminent movement.

Coming can also mean approaching. A popular group sing-song from yesteryear: 'She'll be coming round the corner when she comes ..."

Arrived is a specific time.
He arrived last Wednesday.
Let me know when you have arrived. (Reached the destination.)


Singaporean Flag.

Singaporeans say
'I am reaching'. They mean, I am just about to arrive.

However, their idea of 'soon' is elastic, as is 'a couple of minutes'. When I hear the words a couple of minutes, I expect to see the person in two minutes. I gulp down my coffee and run to the roadside.

When my Singaporean friend arrives half an hour later I am puzzled and disappointed. Some people would get annoyed.

It is a misunderstanding. To Singaporeans two minutes is a metaphor meaning soon, some time today.

Rather like the misunderstood reverse time in the phrase, 'at the end of the day'. At the end of the day does not mean sooner, but later, more like at the end of the year, or at the end of the project.


American flag.

At The End of the day
A British speaker in the USA said that he wanted every department to take on ten new members of staff, at the end of the day.
The American marketing staff took him literally. They rushed out of the conference hall to phones in a panic to start recruiting.
He wondered where his audience had gone.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.