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)?
The 11th. “This” is the upcoming. “Next” is the one after that.
Source: being a human being and scheduling stuff with people for many decades
edit: To be clear, I agree that is how it should work for Saturday. For sunday, I’d prefer to use “next” over “this” when referring to the future
Small change
Say it is Wednesday and you want to refer to the immediate upcoming Sunday. Which sounds better:
- “Next Sunday I will do X” (edited)
- “This Sunday I will do X” (edited)
To me, “next” feels more appropriate, while “this” feels like it should be past tense, referring to the most recent Sunday that just passed.
This could also be affected by location, and whether Sunday or Monday is the start of the week.
I feel like the tense of the rest of the sentence determines which day you’re referring to when you use “this.”
“I went to the movies this Saturday.” Would be the Saturday that just happened
Vs
“I’m going to the movies this Saturday” would be this coming Saturday
You could of course further disambiguate it by using “this past Saturday” and “this coming Saturday” if you really wanted to, but I think in most contexts the rest of the sentence does it well enough.
Oh yes, I guess I should add more words to the examples
- “Next Saturday I will go to the movies”
- “This Saturday I will go to the movies”
“this” feels more appropriate
- “Next Sunday I will go to the movies”
- “This Sunday I will go to the movies”
“next” feels more appropriate
Even with the “coming” to clarify, it feels more natural to associate “this” with items that are in this week (Sunday to Saturday) and “next” with items that start on the following week’s Sunday
I guess part of the disagreement here is about what a week is. Sunday to Saturday vs Monday to Sunday
Yep that makes sense :)
Just say on Sunday if you don’t like the term This.
Next always means there is one present to which one must come after. “Who is next in line?” Would be correct to use in all situations except when asking who is first on line.
“Who is next in line?” Would be correct to use in all situations except when asking who is first on line.
This is not true. “Next in line for the throne” for instance refers to the first person in line for the throne, unless you for some reason count the person currently on the throne as also in line. When a cashier tells “Next!” they expect to serve the first person in line, not the person after them. You’d think someone was crazy if they said “I’m next” when there’s people before them.
The only scenario I can think of off the top of my head where “next” is not the first person in line is when you add qualifiers to slice the line and refer to the first person after that slice, eg “after Alice, Bob is next in line.”
Next in line for the throne is still “second in line, after the current king” so it doesn’t work.
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.
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
- This Saturday = the 4th
- Next Saturday = the 11th
But this Saturday is the 2nd
I would call the 4th “this Saturday”, and the 11th “next Saturday”. But it’s ambiguous enough to ask for clarification.
I would do the same, and I would also say next Saturday the 11th just to avoid ambiguity.
Yeah, if I want to be clear I say “the following Saturday.” There’s no room for ambiguity.
deleted by creator
Yep, I already discovered that xD
Now I am trying to prove that I’m right on the Internet to make myself feel better
deleted by creator
It hadn’t occured to me that I could be misunderstood, in the same way that it didn’t occur to me to explain that Saturday is the one after Friday. When I say “next Saturday” it’s completely obvious what I mean!
Judging by the comments here, and the fact that 4/9 people in my group thought I meant one thing and the other 5/9 thought I meant the other thing, this is a phrasing that I’ll have to retire. Even my own mother disagrees with me! I don’t know how I’ve made it so far through life without it being a problem before now
Use “the following…” to be clear next time.
Out of curiosity, how would you say “this saturday” and “next saturday” in your native language and what would the literal translation be?
I would say “this Saturday” and “next Saturday”, which literally translates to “this Saturday” and “next Saturday”. My native language is English ;)
Hah, oops, I thought you meant that you learned this lesson as a non native english speaker! I must have misunderstood.
Don’t worry, I’m on your side.
Edit: I’m an expert on Saturdays
This.
There’s no point in “this” Saturday, just say Saturday. Or Saturday the 4th.
“Next Saturday” is ambiguous, but most native English speakers will consider the following week, not the week you are in.
This.
Next.
The way I interpret it is that “next Sunday” is the same as saying “next week’s Sunday.” Meanwhile, “this sunday” refers to “this week’s Sunday.” So if it’s Friday and I want to meet 5 days from now, I would call it next Wednesday. But if it’s Monday and I want to meet 5 days from now, I call it this Saturday
But also, anyone with even a bit of courtesy would give a full date, along with the day of the week, if they’re the to schedule something
I would immediately ask. As others have mentioned, “this Saturday” would mean the 4th in your example, but next is too ambiguous; the 4th is the next Saturday on the calendar.
This same thing can happen outside of English as well.
You can also look up “half five”. Depending upon your culture, it means 5:30 (half PAST five) or 4:30 (halfway UNTIL five in the hour before).
I’ve found that the meaning depends on regional differences in both English and Norwegian, and as a result I never use “next Sunday”. I say “Sunday in a week and a half” or the date instead.
Same in France.
I think in German it’s not regional but pure chaos
Edit: here is a map. You don’t need to understand German to see there ain’t no patterns
It goes like this
“Next Saturday”
“You mean this Saturday? Or next Saturday?”
“Next Saturday”
“Okay”
Because English is not an efficient tool for communication.
Not efficent but certainly effective.
Definitely versatile
This Saturday is the Saturday that is occurring in that week, i.e. the 4th, and next Saturday would be the 11th.
Saturday the 4th is part of “this week” so it’s “this Saturday”.
Saturday the 11th is part of “next week” so it’s “next Saturday”.
Otherwise “next Saturday” and “Saturday next week” would mean different things.
Yeah, it’d be great if that were the case. But Saturday the 4th is also just the next Saturday in terms of Saturdays.
It’s an ambiguous term and so always needs clarify gbas you and the person you’re talking to may be thinking along different lines.
I think we can all agree it’s confusing. I am just pointing out that there is an internal consistency in why it’s phrased in this way.
If somebody says to me next Sunday I just assumed they mean the next Sunday to come around. Especially because there is a lot of ambiguity about when the week begins and ends. American software likes to default to calling Saturday the final day of the week, and Sunday the first day of the following week.
Technically “next Sunday” is the nearest Sunday (eg “sunday of next week”), however next Saturday is not (because it’s the Saturday of next week"). This assumes we all accept that Sunday is considered the start of the week - which isn’t always the case nowadays.
It’s chaos! But I’m just pointing out that there’s a wired logic to it, which I assume at some point made more sense than it does in our time.
I’d interpret “next Saturday” as the one on the 11th, and “this Saturday” as the one on the 4th.
Today is Friday, 3/1.
“This Saturday” - Saturday 3/2.
“Next Saturday” - Saturday 3/9.
What if it is Sunday? Does this Saturday refer to yesterday?
Only if the rest of the sentence matches the tense to make that clear.
I went to a movie this Saturday
This one is yesterday. But I personally would just say “I went to a movie Saturday” and drop the “this” entirely in that case.
I’m going to a movie this Saturday
This one refers to the upcoming Saturday.
Next could mean either technically haha
Generally where I am next or this Saturday would be the 4th and “a week Saturday” would be the 11th.
Saturday is Saturday. Next Saturday is not. Otherwise why add the modifier?
I’m a firm believer that “Next Saturday” refers to the upcoming one, however, I understand most people do not, therefore it’s easiest to ask how many days, or the specific date. I.E. Saturday the 15th, Weekend of the 15th, in 12 days.
