When is next Friday?

So do you never use the phrase “this Friday”? Or is it, to you, that “this __day” and “next __day” are synonymous?

English is weird.

Actually, it does mean that (or at least it does here), otherwise there would be no distinction between ‘first’ and ‘next’ and no need for two different terms.

'Who’s next?" can be used to call the second person in line forward before the first person has left the front of the line - indeed, it can be used as a rude method of dismissing the person first in line.

Please allow me to smile. Let’s just jettison the notion of precision and let words mean what we mean at the time and leave it to the other guy to figure out for himself (or herself) what it really means. Like, imagine this exchange:

A: How much change do you have?
B: Not much
A: Can I borrow half of it?
B: Well, it’s only a dime.
A: Okay. May I have a nickel then?
B: It’s only a dime.
A: So, “not much” equals “a dime”?
B: Today it does.

And the term ‘next’ is similarly used in other contexts.

En route to the beach, we might realise we’ve forgotten the buckets and spades - and decide that next time we go to the beach, we’ll have a checklist. But note - we’re not actually at the beach, so ‘next’ refers to a visit beyond the one that is imminently happening.

For me, the next Friday that comes is “Friday” or “This Friday.” When I say “next Friday” it means two Fridays from now.

Yes, but if you are already at the beach when you realize this, do you say, “I’ll make a checklist the time after next?” Of course not. If you are at the beach, the next time you go to the beach is immediately after this time right now.

If it does mean the first xxxday of next week, we also have to agree on which day the week starts. I understand that in the US, Sunday is considered the first day of the week. Here, I think most people would say Monday.

This always gives me fits. So I tend to do it like this:

Tomorrow is “this coming Friday” (or it would have been earlier in the week; now it’s “tomorrow”)

June 29 is “next Friday” or, better, “Friday next week.”

I try not to plan further ahead than that. :smiley:

This is what I would have assumed: that if it was the Friday of this week, the message leaver would have just said “Friday”—there would be no reason for the “next.”

One important point is that this happened in a work-related context, where time goes in discrete weeks. There’s this week (and then you’re off for the weekend), next week (then another weekend), the week after that, etc. So you would think of things as happening “this week” or “next week” or “last week,” and if you want to specify a particular day of the week in question, it would be “this Friday” or “next Friday” or “last Friday.”

I forgot to describe how I describe these days in casual usage. I know you all were holding your breath. I don’t use “next Friday” at all. If it’s this week, it’s simply Friday. If it’s next week, I say “Friday of next week”.

I wouldn’t use the term “next Friday” because it’s too confusing, except in the specific case that it happens to be Friday, and you’re referring to the Friday exactly one week away (and even that could potentially be confusing).

Assuming it’s not Friday, if it’s the first Friday coming up, I would say “Friday”, and if it’s the following week, I’d say, “a week from Friday”.

[How did I not see Crotalus’ post?] :smack:

It depends on context and requires clarification. But “next Friday” has no definite meaning on its own other than - one of the two upcoming Fridays.

When it’s contrasted to “this Friday,” then it’s the 29th.

“Friday after next” is either the 29th or the 6th.

If you actually need people to know what date you’re talking about (as opposed to just sharing small talk), you need to use the actual date.

I think it’s a mistake to compare a word in dissimilar contexts to figure out what meaning that same word carrier in a single particular phrase. Next Friday might mean two Fridays away but that meaning doesn’t necessarily have to carry over into “next in line” meaning the second person in line. And next door neighbor is clearly the person in the adjacent house, not two doors down.

This Friday is the 22nd.
Next Friday is the 29th.
The Friday after next is too vague and I would not let that pass without clarification.

Next question?

What if you’re speaking on a Saturday? Would the Friday of next week be “this Friday” because it is the most immediate Friday moving forward? Or would the fact that it’s next week make it “next” regardless?

For me, “next Friday” always means “the Friday next week”. Maybe “this Friday” has passed, maybe it hasn’t, but that doesn’t change the meaning of “next” in the context.

We have a difference of opinion here in our household:

I think that this question should have been posted in Great Debates, while **Rhiannon8404 **thinks it should have been in General Questions.
As to the question itself, “next Friday” is the Friday that is between 7 and 13 days from the day that the statement is made.

“Friday” and “this Friday” mean the Friday coming later this week.
For the Friday of the coming week, I say “Friday next week”.
I only say “next Friday” if it is in fact Friday and I’m referring to the Friday of next week.

Yes, and if it is Friday, then Next Friday is (probably) the Friday coming first after now, although it would be a bit ambiguous.

What we’re talking about here is nothing more than a social convention - this isn’t logic, it’s language.

I wasn’t trying to do that - but where a word is known to be used similarly in two different contexts, it can be used as an illustrative analogy of how the subject being discussed isn’t complete nonsense.

Waiting for the OP to tell us if there was a meeting today…

Seeing as next Friday is the start of my vacation, it is not soon enough.