No–because it leaves no ambiguity.
Contexts may arise with no indication of a time frame. For example, you work at a catering company that serves a lot of weekend parties. Your boss leaves a message on your voice mail Monday morning:
“Mari Elena, I need to talk to you about this weekend. It’s urgent. Call me back ASAP!”
If you had a job this past weekend, wherein something problematic may have happened, and you also have a big job this coming weekend, then it might leave you wondering.
So it can be confusing. Of course, further negotiation is necessary to clarify the focus of the statement. It’s the intervening moments of ambiguity–and the follow-up discourse–that I’m researching.
What?! :smack:
I hope to GOD that logic isn’t widespread!
It’s not about logic, and this is a very common purpose of the dimension of language known as deixis. This and that are not used only to reference physical proximity. And in fact, using this for the upcoming weekend is purely conventional anyway, and is driven by logic as much (or as little) as the usage that Freudian Slit describes.
It’s used, for example, to create discursive cohesion in writing and extended speech. (This references an immediately and previously expressed idea, proposition or context):
Another deictic function (besides simple physical proximity or distance) of this (and that) also indexes affect (feeling):
Or simply,
This kind of deixis has nothing to do with “logic” or physical space, and though it may not be part or your personal idiolect, many English speakers employ it.
On Monday or Tuesday you would only say “last weekend I…” and not “over the weekend I…”? Because I find the latter less confusing than the one you’re astonished anyone would stray from.
Besides, when people use “this weekend” to mean the one that just occured, they also use the past tense, as in “I saw my parents this weekend” which is hardly confusing to people paying attention to the tenses.
“This coming weekend.”
Ooh! “Over the weekend.” I forgot about that one.
As did I.
And very insightful post, guizot. I think it’s a nice examination of some of the larger linguistic issues at play here. (Of course, I’m not an expert in the fine-tuning stuff, so that’s just my layman’s impression.)
Oh good. I was afraid this was going to turn into another “you New Englanders sure talk funny” things. 
I use both “this weekend” and “next weekend” interchangeably. I don’t think it’s ever been an issue, as context usually makes it clear if I mean the one that’s coming or the one that’s past.
If I mean the weekend after that one, I’ll usually say “neeeext weekend” with a flapping motion indicating that “neeeext” weekend is further away.