Correct uses for "short notice" and "late notice"

[Cimek]

What are the correct uses of "short notice" and "late notice" phrases?

Would it be correct to say "A fire brigade should be ready to act at short notice" or "I will not be able to make it at such short notice" ?

Does "late notice" mean that you let someone know about something too late? For example: "A hotel might charge you for canceling your reservation at late notice".

 

[teechar]

Hello Cimek, and welcome to the forum.

What are the correct uses of the phrases "short notice" and "late notice"? [STRIKE]phrases?[/STRIKE]

Plug them into the following websites to find out.
https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x.asp?r1=&w=1024&h=600
https://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/
https://fraze.it/

Would it be correct to say "A fire brigade should be ready to act at short notice" or "I will not be able to make it at such short notice"?

Yes, those are okay.

Does "late notice" mean that you let someone know about something too late?

Probably. We'd need to see the sentence to tell you for sure.

For example: "A hotel might charge you for canceling your reservation at late notice".

I don't like "late notice" in that sentence at all. I would use "short notice" instead.

 

[Cimek]

Thank you for your answer.

I am still a bit confused about "late notice".

I don't like "late notice" in that sentence at all. I would use "short notice" instead.

I checked the websites you linked and it seems that "late notice" is often used for situations where a person was informed about a missed payment. However, some of the sentences that I saw make me believe that "late notice" could also be used as a phrase meaning "informed very late", like for instance:

"Potter fans felt particularly betrayed by the studio for giving them such late notice about the delay."

I am guessing that using "short notice" in the sentence about the hotel reservation would mean: shortly before the reserved date = too late.

Sorry for being so questioning. I just want to make sure I fully understand this.