Back to the future.

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abc300475

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What's the meaning of "back to the future"?
 
Welcome to the forum. :hi:

What prompted you to ask this question? Are you talking about the film Back to the Future? If so, have you watched it?
 
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It's brilliant use of language. When you are back to some place, it means you were there at some point in the past, and now, you're (going to be) there once again. A great example is school after summer break.

You wouldn't normally expect someone to go to the future, especially go back to the future. But, given the film's about time travel, it makes sense. They went to the future, then back to the present, then back to the future. It's one of those film titles that make you think "Wait a minute... what?", sparking your interested and hopefully making you want to watch it.

It reminds me of Lion, a character who went to hell to strike a deal with the devil, but said devil betrayed him, so Lion went back to hell to kill him. Lion summarizes his story by saying "I've been to hell and back and back to hell and back".
 
In the film, Doc Brown-1955 helps the technically not-yet-born Marty, who traveled back in time from 1985 to 1955 inside Doc Brown-1985's time-traveling device, go back (i.e. return) to 1985, which is in the future relative to 1955.

Dr. Emmett Brown : [reads the "Save the Clock Tower" flyer and reacts with hope] This is it! This is the answer. It says here that a bolt of lightning is going to strike the clock tower at precisely 10:04 p.m. next Saturday night! If... If we could somehow harness this lightning... channel it into the flux capacitor... it just might work. Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future! (source)
back to the future.jpg
 
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