Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
last July / Summer (written in Autumn 2018)
English answer:
July / Summer 2017 (= July / Summer last year)
- The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2018-09-08 11:54:07 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
English term
Last July
Google's Doors Hacked Wide Open By Own Employee
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/09/03/googl...
== BEGIN QUOTE ==
*Sep 3, 2018*, 08:02am
*Last July*, in Google’s Sunnyvale offices, a hacker found a way to trick doors into opening without the requisite RFID keycard. Luckily for Google, it was David Tomaschik, an employee at the tech giant, who only had good intentions.
*Last summer*, when Tomaschik looked at the encrypted messages the Software House devices (called iStar Ultra and IP-ACM) were sending across the Google network, he discovered they were non-random; encrypted messages should always look random if they’re properly protected. He was intrigued and digging deeper discovered a “hardcoded” encryption key was used by all Software House devices. That meant he could effectively replicate the key and forge commands, such as those asking a door to unlock. Or he could simply replay legitimate unlocking commands, which had much the same effect.
== END QUOTE ==
| 4 +7 | July / Summer 2017 |
Tony M
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Sep 5, 2018 09:52: Yvonne Gallagher changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Sep 5, 2018 11:04: writeaway changed "Field (write-in)" from "Grammar" to "(none)"
Sep 8, 2018 12:23: Tony M Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (3): Barbara Carrara, Rachel Fell, Yvonne Gallagher
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Responses
July / Summer 2017
Of course, if we say 'last week / month', we clearly MUST mean 'the one just gone' — since otherwise there would be no way of knowing which particular week / month it was referring to in some previous year!
If a writer wanted to refer to the month of July / the Summer that has just gone, they have other, less ambiguous options they might use, such as 'this last Summer' or 'July just gone' or 'this past Summer', etc. Indeed, in many instances, 'this' would be used, as in "fewer people went on holiday this Summer than last Summer"
last = the year before
this = the year we're in now
next = the year coming
My feeling is that, while we are still in the current year, 'last' refers to the one that happened last year.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-09-05 07:29:30 GMT)
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Your added context confirms my suggestion: if the writer consciously says "last July" and then "in August", then 'in August' can only mean 'the August in thez current year when the piece was written', and hence 'last July' can only be referring to July last year.
From a purely logistical point of view, if he had only discovered this in July 2018, it would have been too short notice to get it programmed for DefCon in August '18!
| Thank you! |
| > Your added context confirms my suggestion: if the writer consciously says "last July" and then "in August", then 'in August' can only mean 'the August in thez current year when the piece was written', and hence 'last July' can only be referring to July last year. Perhaps the author started writing the article in August and made some alterations in early September before publishing it? > From a purely logistical point of view, if he had only discovered this in July 2018, it would have been too short notice to get it programmed for DefCon in August '18! Unfortunately, I know about hackers’ modus operandi mostly from movies and TV series. :) |
| Sorry, the two parts of my note got mixed up. (1) Perhaps the author started writing the article in August and made some alterations in early September before publishing it? (2) Unfortunately, I know about hackers’ modus operandi mostly from movies and TV series. :) |
| agree |
Björn Vrooman
: Technically, summer isn't over yet (23 Sept). "July/summer last year" would have been less ambiguous, but yes: It's the same in German and in American English. The AP Stylebook prefers "in July" over "this (past) July"--nothing added.
33 mins
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Thanks, Björn!
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Herbmione Granger
: Also, July of this year would normally (common sense) be "this July" or "in July."
43 mins
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Thanks, H/C!
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Sarah Bessioud
49 mins
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Thanks, Sarah!
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Charles Davis
2 hrs
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Thanks, Charles!
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AllegroTrans
: Chubby Checker solution is rather excellent methinks
3 hrs
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Thanks, C!
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
3 hrs
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Thanks, Yvonne!
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B D Finch
: Perhaps we come from areas with different local dialects, but 'July just gone' sounds very odd to me. Also, 'this last Summer' would be a phrase I'd only use if I wanted to contrast it with previous summers.// I'm from NW London.
6 hrs
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Thanks, B! My British EN is heavily influenced by London usage, which may account for certain regional inflections I am unaware of ;-) / Perhaps then North Country, as my father was originally from Lancashire.
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Discussion
Best
"The tweet was a significant departure from a statement dictated by the president and issued by Trump Jr. last July regarding the purpose of the Trump Tower meeting..."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-son...
Written in August 2018; the statement linked is from July 2017.
"Last July, Tim Pawlenty talked about his affinity for the acoustic version of Lady Gaga’s hit single, 'Born This Way.'"
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/mitt-romney-kind-snooki-f...
Written in September 2018; link to July 2017.
"[David Clarke] spoke at the Republican National Convention last July."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/05/ex-sheriff-david-...
Written in September 2017; Clarke gave his speech in July 2016.
Things may be different in the UK, but I don't see how. Of course, if it's closer to December, you'll see "last" as a reference to July. But not in September. Also, the Economist Style Guide doesn't like last week. Think quarterly publications.
Best
"Last week", "last month" and "last year" are unambiguous. "Last July" is ambiguous. It can mean July this year (assuming it's now after July) or it can mean July last year. As Tony has said and most people have agreed, it more often means the latter. I think it's more likely to mean July this year the more time has elapsed since July; in December 2018 it might well mean July 2018. But it's quite untrue that at this moment in September 2018, "last July" necessarily means July 2018 (two months ago), though it could, in principle.
The problem was almost certainly solved some time ago. But there's no reason why Google should have been in a hurry to tell the world about it.
Best
I believe you are absolutely right. Otherwise, David Tomaschik would’ve probably been fired from Google as soon as his boss learned about David’s speech at IoT Village. :)
Your point is totally valid. Thanks a lot for additional information!
Let's twist again, like we did last year."
Last summer (usually) means the summer of last year.
Similarly with months, and (mutatis mutandis) with days of the week:
Last July is usually July of last year, not this year. July of this year is simply "this July", or just "July" (you say something happened "in July").
Last Monday is usually Monday of last week.
But you can't always rely on this, and occasionally, when it mattered, I've asked people to confirm which Monday/July/etc. they meant.
In this case, if you read up on it, Forbes broke the news. They got the story from Tomaschik, after a talk he gave in early August (2018).
When Tomaschik found the vulnerability, Google had to take a lot of measures, with Software House (security). This must have taken a bit of time, quite a lot, in fact, because the solution was tricky and involved a change of hardware. While this was going on, Google and its staff were obviously not going to break the news. So it's plausible that something that happened just over a year ago should become known now.
Unfortunately, this news article is in German:
https://www.zdnet.de/88341267/google-campus-ingenieur-knackt...
However, it includes a reference to the problem:
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-17704
This was recorded in 2017. We can't be talking about 2018. Also, even if we weren't getting all "technical," it would be extremely odd to write "last summer" a couple of days after the end of August.
Best
== BEGIN QUOTE ==
Tomaschik gave his talk on hacking his employer’s doors in early August at the DEF CON Internet of Things Village, where all manner of IoT tech was hacked. In results exclusively handed to Forbes, the IoT Village organizers from Independent Security Evaluators disclosed that a whopping 55 vulnerabilities were uncovered across an array of devices.
== END QUOTE ==
So there are two options: Either David Tomaschik discovered the vulnerability in July of this year and reported it at IoT Village in August, or he discovered the vulnerability in July 2017 and then waited for 12+ months before giving his speech at the aforementioned conference. Perhaps the first option is more logical, but I don’t know the mindset of IT security guys...
P.S. I’ve already checked out some discussions like this:
pronouns - "This summer" versus "last summer" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/87506/this-summe...
== BEGIN QUOTE ==
While in early fall, a reference to this summer would probably invoke the summer just past, by November or December, ambiguity is likely to set in. The rest of many sentences may make clear as to whether you are referring to a past or future activity, but not always. Consider this Thanksgiving (in US, late November) dinner conversation
When did you rent the cabin?
This summer.
It was lovely in 2012? It will be lovely in 2013?
Rather, when referring to a summer completed, this past summer is much clearer. And when referring to a distant summer, especially before the new year, this coming summer solves the problem.
Similarly, next summer makes sense when the heat is distant, say before spring, but by January 1, this summer will also do.
== END QUOTE ==