I think it varies even in my country depending on where your family came from, or where you live. Me, I say “last Saturday”, or for the one before “Saturday before last”. The upcoming one is Saturday, and then “Saturday after this one” or “Saturday week” (I think the “week” addition is dying out, I don’t seem to hear it as often as I did in the era straight after that in which a major British influx of immigrants took place.)
Mine’s a lot like yours, jebert. “Next” refers to what’s coming up in the subsequent calendar week (October 9-15, for example), not anything that happens in the current week. Therefore, October 8 is this Saturday, October 15 is next Saturday.
My husband’s more of the “next = one immediately coming up” crowd, and sometimes it causes us no end of confusion.
Maybe I’ll switch to the “Saturday week” thing, but then he’ll probably think I’m pretentious.
I have a friend from the South (South Carolina in fact) that taught me this contruction. It is the BEST INVENTION EVER! OK, maybe not that cool, but still pretty cool.
By extension, you can also use a <Day of Week> week week construction. There’s Friday (the 7th), Friday week (the 14th) and Friday week week (the 21st).
There is an American version of the “Saturday week” thing the Australians/New Zealanders keep mentioning that I use. I usually say “next week, Saturday”. No confusion about that one. For this coming Saturday, I usually simply say “this Saturday”.
The only time I feel comfortable saying “next Saturday” is if the day I am saying it is Saturday. Then people know I mean one week from that day.
I, too, find the term “Next Saturday” too vague to use. If I hear someone use the term, I’ll ask for clarification. Best to use “This Saturday” or “This Coming Saturday”.
This Saturday is the coming Saturday. Next Saturday is the Saturday after that. Last Saturday is the preceding Saturday. Any other Saturdays are specified by a date.
That’s how I do it, too.
Here is the example I was taught years ago and it addresses this question once and for all: you’re standing ‘next-in-line’ at a bank (yes yes I know that there are ATMs now) or in an airline check-in or baggage check-in queue. You’re ‘next-in-line’ also means you’re first in line. The teller or the agent yells “NEXT !” at the top of his or her lungs for all to hear. YOU advance confidently to the available teller or agent. You do NOT turn to the person behind you (maybe you do if you are chivalrous) and say “I think they mean you, please go ahead.” When you’re next-in-line and at the front of the line, you’re the first to be called. Thus NEXT Saturday is the first Saturday from today, there is no skipping.
but lines are not dates, it is more appropriate to compare it thus:
last year/month/week, this year/month/week, next year/month/week
last saturday, this saturday, next saturday.
in any case, the POV for the queue example is the teller, not you. so the last customer has already left the bank, the teller is finishing up this customer in front of her, and is now yelling for the next customer to come forward.
I tend to use next, meaning the next to occur Saturday. Unless we are very close to Saturday, like it is Friday, I’ll say next Saturday or “not tomorrow but next Saturday.”
When the teller yells “next” the teller is referring to the next customer they will serve. It has nothing to do with line placement.
I also disagree that “next in line” and “first in line” are two different positions. The person first in the line is at the window. You are next after them.
I am so glad to find out that this is unclear to others. My mom explained to me when I was younger, somewhat impatient with my slownness, that ‘next’ Saturday does not mean the next Saturday. It actually means the Saturday after that! So I’ve learned to make the adjustment and to double check when people say next anything.
‘Next door’ - Do you mean the next house or the one after that?
‘Next week’ - that’s a tough one - do I skip a whole week like we do with days?
That’s nice and logical, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is how people use the word. To me, “next Saturday” is the Saturday a week from “this Saturday.” However, I usually say it as “not this, but next Saturday” to make it clear. Most people I know seem to use “next” to mean not the upcoming one, but the one after that.
One of various other threads on the subject:
Don’t get me started on highway signs that say, for example, “Gas – next exit.”
This coming Saturday. The one after that is either Saturday a week, or a week from this Saturday.
I don’t say “next Saturday” because it’s always open to interpretation. Unless it is Saturday, then “next Saturday” would probably be interpreted correctly.
It means the next Saturday, not the one after the next one. However, when you use the expression, you should always clarify it. Unless it is Saturday, then you have to be an idiot not to understand what it means.
It’s ambiguous, so don’t say it, and if someone else says it, ask what they mean.
Interpretation 1: the next occurring Saturday (also known as “Saturday” or “this Saturday”)
Interpretation 2: the Saturday after this Saturday (also called “a week from Saturday”)
Both interpretations are justifiable, so just don’t use it unless you don’t care if the message is received.
Never mind that this thread is 8 years old, so “next Saturday” already passed a long time ago.
I use these terms unambiguously. I will use “this Saturday” to refer to the first Saturday in the future, and “next Saturday” refers to the one after that. If the day I’m saying these things on is a Saturday, that day would be “this Saturday”, but I’d just say “today” and refer to the the subsequent Saturday as “next Saturday”.
If I am refering to the most recent Saturday, I will just say Saturday or “on Saturday” with the past tense. I might say “on Saturday” with the future tense synonymously with “this Saturday” but, with the verb tense, it should still be unambiguous.
And if I need more than that, if it isn’t Saturday, I’ll say “two weeks from this Saturday” for the future or something like “three Saturdays ago” for something in the past. And, obviously, if it is Saturday, I’ll just say “in two weeks” or “three weeks ago”.
So, I guess this would be a good way of how I might put it in a time line:
If today isn’t Saturday: “last Saturday”> “Saturday” > today > “this Saturday” > “next Saturday”
If today is Saturday: “last Saturday” > today > “next Saturday”