"Do we have plans next Saturday?"
"The 15th?"
"No, no - I mean next Saturday. The 22nd."
"That's two Saturdays from now. Next Saturday is the 15th."
"No... the 15th is this Saturday."
Next and this: One might not think this is an important matter, but it turns out it's one of those items that can stand in the way of clear communication.
John Nicholson works in IT here at Minnesota Public Radio, and he brought this subject to our attention. Here's what he told us:
"My friend says that this weekend means the 15th and 16th, and next weekend means the 22nd and 23rd. Same thing for days of the week (this Friday is tomorrow and next Friday is a week from tomorrow). I say that this weekend and next weekend mean the same thing — the 15th and 16th — and next and this Friday both mean tomorrow. I ask because I've had this discussion with many people, and about half agree with me and half do not. Is it just a personal preference?"
Naturally, the excellent reference book Fowler's Modern English Usage has an entry about next and this. Here's what it says—it's on page 521 for those of you following along at home:
"In normal use, if said or written early in a given week, next Friday means the immediately following Friday in the same week. Similarly next June means the first June following the date on which it is mentioned."
But before anyone starts considering the matter of "right" and "wrong," Fowler's continues:
"In Scotland and also in some northern dialects of England, next is employed to designate the days of the following week: thus next Friday, the Friday of next week, is contrasted with this Friday, that of the present week."
John Nicholson encounters this disparity between next and this among his family and friends-none of whom are from Scotland. But it's not surprising to find a mash-up of different language habits within the United States, where John lives.
Ultimately, Fowler's recommends that when making an arrangement or organizing a meeting for next Friday, simply include the date in your sentence. That tends to clear up any confusion.
"Let's go to the play next Saturday, March 22nd."
"Sounds great!"
What do you think of the whole next/this debate? Share your thoughts below.
Source: Fowler's Modern English Usage by R.W. Burchfield.
Music from this Episode: "Next Year" by Foo Fighters; "This Time" by INXS.
[Listen to streaming audio][Download and listen to the mp3]
About Grammar Grater
Grammar Grater is a weekly podcast from Minnesota Public Radio that looks at English words, grammar and usage in a time when everybody's a writer. And with the global nature of communication, there's not a single style guide everyone uses. Each week, host Luke Taylor and the Grammatis Personae Players (Cory Busse, Amy Ault, John Ryan and Bridget Murphy) take a lighthearted approach to language by putting common linguistic bugbears through the Grammar Grater.
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Comments: 11
Thanks for the feedback!
And we haven't discounted anything as Scottish—merely put some context around where the different uses of next may have originated. As our New Year's Special proves, the last thing we'd do is disregard or belittle something because it happens to be Scottish.
It's not surprising to see both uses in the New World given the vast mix of people who populate it and the various ways English is spoken and taught.
I know that when speaking I always qualify as in "Next Friday, the one after this Friday."
The most common instance I hear is when referring to the weekend. In such cases, to me, "this weekend" refers to the "end" of "this week" as the words suggest. "Next weekend" refers to the "end" of "next week." By this same logic, you would refer to things coming up in 2008 as "this year" and you would never say "next year" because that would mean 2009. From my reckoning, people who say "next weekend" and mean the end of the current week are speaking a double-standard, because they certainly don't say "next year" for '08. I could hear these folks getting confused all over again when they start talking about "next summer" when they really mean "this summer--of THIS year!"
To me, there's a reasonable explanation-- for some, "next" is short for "the next" or "the VERY next and upcoming (to be really specific!)" and somewhere along the line, these folks stopped saying "the" at the beginning. Now, where are these people from? Not Scotland.
Check out the audio version, though. There are dialogues in there that actually explore the different logic a little more. We don't transcribe those segments for this written companion. Maybe that will do it a bit more justice. See what you think.
And thanks again for the feedback!
"Ohhh.... it's YOU!"
I blame the Church of Scotland, frankly.
How about this, though?
I've heard "this" used regarding past days as well. "What did you do this weekend?" I always assumed that next is any day after today, but this was the nearest day. (Today is Monday the 4th. Next Friday is the 8th. This Friday was the 1st).
Or is this just completely wrong?