Silly question about wording...

[sonnyjane]

This has come up in a few of my conversations lately, so I wanted to toss it out to PS...

If it was say, Monday, and someone said "I'm having a party next weekend", I take that to mean that it will be not THIS COMING weekend, but the NEXT weekend after this one. Is that a proper interpretation on my part?

 

[Haven]

I have the same issue, Sonnyjane!

I've just realized I need to clarify with people, because everyone uses these terms differently. I think of it exactly as you do, but it's gotten me into trouble with planning because people don't always interpret it the same way.

 

[radiantquest]

I would interpret it that it would be the following week, as in, not the one we are currently in. That is what what next week means, correct?

I am not sure how this gets so confused. It seems pretty cut and dry to me, but DH is one of those that interprets it differently. Its especially confusing if its toward the end of the week like Thursday or especially Friday.

 

[sonnyjane]

I have the same issue, Sonnyjane!

I've just realized I need to clarify with people, because everyone uses these terms differently. I think of it exactly as you do, but it's gotten me into trouble with planning because people don't always interpret it the same way.

Haha! I said it was a silly question, but totally valid because it's obviously not as clear cut as one would think! In my example, if it was Monday and you really WERE planning to have a party on Saturday (a few days away), then I would say "I'm having a party THIS weekend". "NEXT weekend" to me means "not this one, but the next one"... but TECHNICALLY, in defense of the people that are confusing me lol, this coming weekend is the NEXT weekend that will occur... that's just not how I think about it.

 

[Haven]

Yes! My husband thinks "next Saturday" means this Saturday because it is the next Saturday that is coming up. This has caused us some trouble in the past!

 

[kenny]

Yeah when people say next weekend they do not all mean the same weekend.

Some people say "this" weekend to refer to the nearest one in the future and "next" to refer to the one after that.

This is why I ask for the date, to be sure.

 

[Maria D]

Haven, I'm with your husband. I don't really say "this Saturday." There's last Saturday, the 11th, and next Saturday, the 18th. Today is just Monday, not this Monday. Tomorrow we'll call it yesterday and by Wednesday it's last Monday. No "this" for me!

 

[Haven]

Haven, I'm with your husband. I don't really say "this Saturday." There's last Saturday, the 11th, and next Saturday, the 18th. Today is just Monday, not this Monday. Tomorrow we'll call it yesterday and by Wednesday it's last Monday. No "this" for me!

I completely understand your reasoning, and though I hate to admit it, it does make sense!

I think this is one of those things that people are raised saying one way or the other.

 

[kenny]

I think this is one of those things that people are raised saying one way or the other.

This.
I believe the same product is referred to as soda, pop, or coke in various regions of the USA.

 

[Haven]

I think this is one of those things that people are raised saying one way or the other.

This.
I believe the same product is referred to as soda, pop, or coke in various regions of the USA.

This was actually what I was thinking about when I posted my last response. My friends from Texas call all soda "Coke" no matter what brand they're actually trying to identify. That one always throws me!

 

[monarch64]

If I say "next" I mean weekend after the coming one. If I say "this," I mean THIS WEEKEND.

 

[packrat]

I also have that problem. I'll tell my dad "We're doing X next Saturday", and he never gets it. If I was referring to the coming Saturday, I wouldn't really even need to specify this or next, I would just say "Saturday". "I'm doing X on Saturday" shouldn't need clarification, to me. "What Saturday?" "Oh, the third Saturday in July, 2014, what you couldn't figure that out?" Most times I do specify, and I use this/next.

 

[Maria D]

Yeah, see, that's why I never finding myself saying "this." Today if I want to meet you on Saturday the 18th I would say "let's get together Saturday." If it was for the Saturday after next (the 25th in my book), I would say just that -- let's get together the Saturday after next. Packrat, the only time I would understand "next Saturday" to be not the very next one but the one after is if it's Friday 'cause then you would have said tomorrow!

I always have to double-take when someone says that a date is "pushed back." I think that should mean that the event is going to occur earlier, not later, because "back" means back in time to me. But then again, there's "push" instead of "pulled." I hate that expression. What's wrong with postponed?

 

[zoebartlett]

I think I'd clarify by asking if they mean this coming weekend or the weekend after. This trips me up too.