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)?

  • @[email protected]
    5•9 months ago

    If you ask someone to meet you somewhere “next Saturday”, you’ll be stood up by 99.99999% of the population if you’re expecting this Saturday.

    The standard usage is unanimous. Whatever you think “makes sense”, the entire population has already agreed on the standard. Anyone who “understood” you picked up what you meant from other context. Because you used it incorrectly.

    • OtterEnglish
      1•9 months ago

      I wasn’t super clear in my first comment, I clarified more here

      https://lemmy.ca/comment/7703958

      This was more about digging further into why some words feel correct over others, and if the pattern is consistent enough to define it as:

      • “This”: for when the date is present in the current week (Sunday-Saturday)"
      • “Next”: for when the date is present in the next week (starting on the following Sunday)

      If there’s a chance of ambiguity, I usually clarify

      • @[email protected]
        3•9 months ago

        “This”: for when the date is present in the current week (Sunday-Saturday)"

        “This” if for days occurring within the next 7 days. The calendar week is irrelevant.