“Could you hang up this picture ?”
“Yes.”
Sands whooshing through the hourglass.
“I don’t want to nag, but you are going hang the picture, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
“Nevermind. I can do it.”
“Uh huh.”
Bang.
Swearing.
Smashing.
More swearing.
“What in the name of all that’s holy are you doing? Put the hammer down. I said I would do it.”
“That was 2 years ago!”
“You never gave me a time frame. I’ll do it just now.”
“When will ‘just now’ be ‘now’? When hell freezes over? When the polar ice caps melt? When Brexit happens?”
“Yeah. When Brexit happens.”
“So, never then.”
“Smartass.”
NOTE:
In South Africa we have three time frames:
Now – meaning right this minute.
Now now – meaning soonish.
And…
Just now – meaning when I bloody feel like it, but maybe never.
The Blurred Line 
Has there ever been any two people living together, regardless of relationship, who haven’t had some form of that argument?
I like the three nows. That’s interesting. I’ve always heard just now as something that has just happened. It’s interesting that the double now is not as urgent as the single.
You’re right. The double now, is more of a ‘I’ll get to that in a minute’ than a actual, ‘I’m doing it as we speak.’
Depending on results later today, Brexit may finally get done, but I wouldn’t bet on it. It really has become a joke to be used by writers! Good fun.
Thank you.
Procrastination rules Okay.
And giving a time frame is important. Only learned that as a mom of boys.
I remember trying to get to grips with that distinction. It gave me the same problem as “will I” instead of “shall I”. The former always sounded as if there was an unwillingness, a doubtfulness about the proposal. Funny to hear that again.
As a parent ‘just now’ is my go to. It implies a willingness with just the right amount of vagueness to create a loophole where someone else can do it first.
I remember my lack of understanding of the different nows when I first arrived in South Africa
It’s all in the context.