# "Next" day problem. Can someone explain it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950 "2006-11-10T23:12:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/41 "2006-11-11T23:25:13Z")
[QUOTE=tariqbutt] I am constantly running into this problem. Say it is friday, and someone says “I will meet you next monday”. What day are they refering to? [/QUOTE] Monday Nov. 13th is specific and unambiguous. Other wise it is easily misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![tariqbutt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@tariqbutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tariqbutt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/42 "2006-11-12T00:19:53Z")
> [@](#): > > “You’ll miss your train!” “Oh, I’ll just take the next one.” The person isn’t saying that they’ll catch the one that is imminent, but the one after that. This is because you have specified its not a certain train. If you just said " I am catching the next train" it would mean the next one to occur (or arrive). This is similar to what I explained here: > [@](#): > > If I was approaching a turn and someone said “take the next turn”. Id say “Hey you didnt give me enough time to take the turn”. I would assume here that next refered to the next one to occur. > > However if they said “Not this turn, but the next one”, in that case they are specifying that the turn we are approaching is not the one to take, but we shall take the one after the turn specified. As you see you have to specify the current instance for next to have meaning. If none is specified then we assume it is the next to occur. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/43 "2006-11-12T00:32:00Z")
[QUOTE=tariqbutt] If none is specified then we assume it is the next to occur. [/QUOTE] You may assume it. I ask because I don’t assume it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/44 "2006-11-12T00:51:03Z")
It makes absolutely no sense to argue over the matter. The phrase simply has different connotations to different people, and I think both versions acquit themselves perfectly adequately within their contexts. ---
**Author:** ![tariqbutt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@tariqbutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tariqbutt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/45 "2006-11-12T00:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > You may assume it. I ask because I don’t assume it. > Reply With Quote You are quite right here. I assume it in all cases except with days. This is simply due to the fact that some people use “next” in a different way to how it is used elsewhere. I always have to query if they are skipping a day in the timeline or not. ---
**Author:** ![tariqbutt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@tariqbutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tariqbutt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/46 "2006-11-12T01:11:52Z")
Actually here is one case Im unclear about. Say I meet my friends every saturday for baseball. We all go to drinks on monday night and as I am leaving I say “Im heading home now, Ill see you at baseball next weekend” Would you say 1. “Ok see you then” Or would you say 2. “Hey why will we not see you at baseball this weekend” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/47 "2006-11-12T16:08:41Z")
Why don’t we just table this for a while, and resume the discussion a week from next Thursday at 9 o’clock in the usual place? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/48 "2006-11-13T03:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Uh, I did read your post. You said that in Georgia they say “Monday **next** ” not “Monday **week** ”. My post doesn’t say anything about the “Monday next” wording specifically because your post said that they use it in Georgia. I personally haven’t ever heard it used by an American either. (I live in Georgia at the moment and haven’t heard that either, but maybe it doesn’t make it all the way to Atlanta) [/QUOTE] You know what? It’s been 28 years, and I remembered it wrong. It’s “Monday week”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/49 "2006-11-13T12:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] Why don’t we just table this for a while, and resume the discussion a week from next Thursday at 9 o’clock in the usual place? [/QUOTE] That’s a great idea - given that anyone attending such a meeting will do so on a date based on their notion of what you mean, unanimity is inevitable (at any one of the meetings, that is). ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/50 "2006-11-13T14:11:12Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It makes absolutely no sense to argue over the matter. The phrase simply has different connotations to different people, and I think both versions acquit themselves perfectly adequately within their contexts. [/QUOTE] While I agree with this statement in theory, in practice the differences cause numerous misunderstandings, as **jsgoddess** points out. I know I’ve had my share of confusion with friends that needed clarifying so that we showed up on the same day. I suspect there is (in the US anyway) some sort of geographic pattern to the usage. Unfortunately, the [Dialect Survey](http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html) doesn’t seem to cover this topic. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/51 "2006-11-13T14:18:20Z")
Though I personally would use “next Monday” to mean “in 10 days” not “in three days”, I have come to the conclusion that the fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our ‘next’ but in our ‘this’. I’d argue that “this Monday” is a misapplication of “this”, perhaps abbreviated from “this coming Monday”. But by misappropriating “this” to mean a Monday which is not “here”, we create a confusion about the use of “next”, which would more properly be applied. Try telling your wife that your next wife is sexy and will keep her looks into old age. When you regain consciousness, try explaining to her lawyer that you meant “the closest, most proximate wife, the one right next to you” – namely her. It won’t fly because “this wife” isn’t subject to ambiguity. Only in special cases (e.g. a never-married fiance) where there is no possible ambiguity, could one say “this wife” and mean “an upcoming wife, not already in progress” Similarly, when you tell your kids “Next time, you’ll get a whupping” (or in this age: “Next time, I’ll lower the minutes on your cellphone!”) you are clearly distinguishing it from “this time” --which although not the present is clearly still close enough for you to feel immediately peeved-- and “last time” when you didn’t say a word for fear of damaging their self-esteem (and besides, it was kind of cute at first). Try telling them that “this time” means “this coming time”, and you’ll end up raising Congresscritters. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/52 "2006-11-13T14:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=Algernon] While I agree with this statement in theory, in practice the differences cause numerous misunderstandings, as **jsgoddess** points out. I know I’ve had my share of confusion with friends that needed clarifying so that we showed up on the same day. [/QUOTE] I agree; what I think I was trying to say was that neither side in this argument will ever convince the other that its way is the right and proper way, because to both camps, their own way feels as natural as the other feels horribly alien. Same thing with ‘and’ in spoken numbers, similar thing with date formats and possibly similar with commas and decimal points - they’re all conventions that are quite indelibly culturally ingrained, as well as somewhat arbitrary - arguing only tends to reinforce your opposite’s impression that you’re a lunatic. Greater awareness that differences of convention is achievable and desirable though, but homogeny just isn’t going to happen anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/53 "2006-11-13T16:04:13Z")
When I use “this” and “next”, I tend to imply “week’s” in the statement. For instance, today is Monday Nov 13th. “Next Monday” is Nov 20th, as in “next week’s Monday”. Therefore “next Tuesday” is the 21st as it is “next week’s Tuesday” and “next week’s Friday” is the 24th. “This Friday,” meaning “this week’s Friday” is the 17th. On Friday the 17th, Monday would be “this Monday” since it is within the 7 day span of a week. Personally, I avoid all that and clarify by saying “Thursday” to mean the 16th such as, “I’ll call you on Thursday” and “a week from Thursday” to mean the 23rd, as in “In America, Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/54 "2006-11-13T16:17:23Z")
I’ve always used and understood “this” to designate the imminent day and “next” to designate the week following. When other people say “next,” I usually ask for clarification, though. “The meeting is next wednesday.” “Do you mean this _coming_ wednesday or the wednesday after that?” “NEXT wednesday.” “Um…ok…thanks.” Really, there’s no right answer. From my perspective, it just seems like people who say “next” when they mean “this” are being unnecessarily confusing. If you mean “this,” say “this.” No one ever gets confused by it. I have never heard the “monday week” construction in my life. I had no idea such a convention even existed until reading this thread. It must be a regional thing ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/55 "2006-11-13T19:43:49Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] …what I think I was trying to say was that neither side in this argument will ever convince the other that its way is the right and proper way, because to both camps, their own way feels as natural as the other feels horribly alien… arguing only tends to reinforce your opposite’s impression that you’re a lunatic. [/QUOTE] Well said. By the way, I’m in the subset of the populace that refers to “this Monday” as “next Monday”. Drives my wife nuts. Especially in the middle of the week and I refer to the coming weekend as “next weekend”. ---
**Author:** ![tariqbutt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@tariqbutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tariqbutt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/56 "2006-11-13T23:44:16Z")
> [@](#): > > From my perspective, it just seems like people who say “next” when they mean “this” are being unnecessarily confusing. If you mean “this,” say “this.” That is rediculous. You say if I mean “this” then say “this”. Why? “This” does not fit what I am trying to express. I want to talk about the thursday in 3 days time. To me it is the “next” thursday to occur and is hence “next” thursday. It would feel strange to me to call it “this” thursday because “this” implies it is right here in front of me. I am typing at “this” keyboard right now in “this” room, but thats as far as it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950/57 "2006-11-14T01:59:16Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] To me, “next Monday” has always meant not the nearest Monday, but the one after that. In the case above, that would the Monday in ten days’ time. However, I always end up clarifying by using the lengthy “not this Monday, but next Monday,” or “not this Monday, but the following Monday,” instead of the simple “next Monday,” because I do know there is variation on how people use these words. [/QUOTE] This is exactly what I do, although sometimes I’ll even go so far as to say the date, if I know it off-hand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-day-problem-can-someone-explain-it/379950.md?page=2)