What does "as soon as tomorrow" mean? [closed]

Context: Person is asking for information in an email, and uses the following sentence: "I do not expect an answer as soon as tomorrow."

Is it the same as "not later than tomorrow end of the day"?

Solution 1:

If someone simply said

I don't expect an answer tomorrow

that could mean he expects he might get an answer today, or the day after tomorrow, or later than that, or not at all. It isn't necessarily a statement about how quickly he expects the answer. Possibly he knows the person who he is expecting an answer from does not work tomorrow (if in a business context). He might then plan his own activities for tomorrow on the assumption that he does not need to be available to receive the answer.

If he says

I don't expect an answer as soon as tomorrow

then he means he is not expecting an answer today or tomorrow. It might be the day after tomorrow, later in the week, next week, or later still, or possible never.

In the OPs example of an email asking for information and saying

I do not expect an answer as soon as tomorrow

means that the person expects that the answer will not come until the day after tomorrow at the earliest. This is a polite way of indicating that the request is not urgent and the person asking the question understands that the other person may be busy. Of course, if the answer does come tomorrow, or even today, then that is fine, but after tomorrow is also ok.

The person hasn't said when he does expect an answer but doesn't expect it will be today or tomorrow. If it is from a manager it is also a way of saying not to drop what else you are doing, because this question is relatively low priority.

Solution 2:

I understand the sentence as: [Person is asking you, the poster here, for information] "You do not need to send me an answer today or tomorrow." i.e. it is not urgent.