Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
This has actually gotten me thinking about the subtlety of "until" in the original English. I'd never thought about it before, but "until" pretty much always signifies a temporal boundary rather than a spatial one. On the other hand, "to the end of the universe" makes me think of a spatial boundary.
Any other native English speakers feel the same way?
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"Until" can be used to describe spatial boundaries in situations like giving directions ("go until you get to the gas station, then turn left") or describing linear paths ("this road goes on until it reaches the coast"), but I would say that even in those situations it's technically referring to the time it takes to reach a destination. In the latter case, the road itself doesn't take time to get anywhere, but rather it's described from the point of view of the mind's eye travelling along it.
"Until the end of the universe" is probably a bad example to consider because "the end of the universe" can refer to both a place and an event.