Let’s imagine it’s currently Wednesday the 1st. Does “next Saturday” mean Saturday the 4th (the next Saturday to occur) or Saturday the 11th (the Saturday of next week)?

  • my_hat_stinks
    4•9 months ago

    “Who is next in line?” Would be correct to use in all situations except when asking who is first on line.

    This is not true. “Next in line for the throne” for instance refers to the first person in line for the throne, unless you for some reason count the person currently on the throne as also in line. When a cashier tells “Next!” they expect to serve the first person in line, not the person after them. You’d think someone was crazy if they said “I’m next” when there’s people before them.

    The only scenario I can think of off the top of my head where “next” is not the first person in line is when you add qualifiers to slice the line and refer to the first person after that slice, eg “after Alice, Bob is next in line.”

      • my_hat_stinks
        2•9 months ago

        Okay, but I already addressed that in my last comment. The current king isn’t in line for the throne in the same way as people already inside a club aren’t in the line for the club. “Next in line after Alice” is the same as “first in line after Alice”, you’re taking a subset of the line and pointing to the first in that subset.