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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

"Next Weekend" - a debate.

101 replies

PennyHasNoSurname · 29/03/2016 14:05

AIBU to think this person is all shades of incorrect?

Person A (person Wrong) " I am really looking forward to going away next weekend"
Person B (person Right) "ooh are you away two weekends in a row? How lovely, where are you off to?"
Person A "no Im only away one weekend, to Liverpool"
Person B "oh I thought that was the weekend after next?"
Person A "it is, next weekend. The weekend after next"

What??

On a tuesday, if you say next weekend, that means the coming weekend right? Apparently if A meant this weekend coming she would have said this weekenz and I should know next weekend means the weekend after next.

And this woman wonders why people get so confused when they talk to her.

OP posts:
WitchyPoos · 29/03/2016 15:48

This weekend means the weekend coming
Next weekend means the one after next

My friend does the whole thing next = the one coming. If I said to him today do you wanna do something next Friday he will think this Friday. I have to say do you want to do something Friday the 8th. He's wrong, he just doesn't agree that he is lol

StarlingMurmuration · 29/03/2016 15:50

Epona has it for me.

PrimalLass · 29/03/2016 15:59

This week's end = 2/3 April
Next week's end = 9/10 March

Lilmisskittykat · 29/03/2016 16:02

This made me laugh I have this debate all the time with my other half... I'm the the kinda person who referred to days like ops friend .. Grin

xenapants · 29/03/2016 16:03

"This weekend" is the next weekend that will happen, ie, since it's Tuesday today ,the one that's happening in four days time
"Next weekend" is the weekend after that, ie the one happening in 11 days.

You're wrong OP. My ex said it like you and it drove me nuts, it was impossible to make plans with him and then he was so convinced he was right that he did it just to be obtuse.

magicstar1 · 29/03/2016 16:07

Yep, Itwillwash is right.

My dh thinks like yours...we turned up to a confirmation a week early recently, as he thought "next weekend" was only a couple of days away Hmm

TheRightThingToDo · 29/03/2016 16:12

I haven't read the full thread but I had a conversation with friend about this

He studied journalism at uni and was taught to never use the 'this/next weekend' as it confuses everyone Smile

Purplebluebird · 29/03/2016 16:17

Me and OH always argue about this. If he says "next weekend" he means the coming one (which i call "this weekend"). When I say "next weekend" I mean the one after this one. so 9/10th april would be next weekend for me. He's almost brainwashed me out of it though Grin

Ohdearohdearme · 29/03/2016 16:19

A friend asked me on a Tuesday if I wanted to come and stay at her house "next Saturday." I was all packed up and ready to go 5 days later and dropped her a message to say I was on my way, only to find out she meant the following Saturday! Since then we've always referred to the dates!

BitchyComment · 29/03/2016 16:26

I say next weekend for the upcoming weekend and I've noticed it confuses people Confused

I think I need to say this weekend.

BackforGood · 29/03/2016 16:35

You are right. Person A is, indeed wrong.
'Next weekend is clearly the "next" (clue being that you are saying the word) weekend to arrive.

TeenAndTween · 29/03/2016 16:46

I was asked on a Mon/Tue to help on a school trip 'next Thursday'.
I met a member of admin in town a few days later, he asked if I'd forgotten anything that day. I said no. He said 'the trip?' Turns out they had meant this Thursday... Blush
English is an unclear language.

DadDadDad · 29/03/2016 17:12

xenapants - I find your explanation crazy: you say that this weekend means next weekend that will happen, and that next weekend means the weekend after next. But "will happen" doesn't really add anything, and "weekend after next" is surely short for "weekend after next weekend", so you are claiming:

  1. "this weekend" = "next weekend",
so logically "next weekend" = "this weekend"
  1. "next weekend" = "weekend after next weekend",
so logically "weekend before next weekend" = "next weekend"? I'm confusing myself now ConfusedGrin
lavenderdoilly · 29/03/2016 17:20

Have this with my il s. They enhance it with next for days of the week. Eg on Monday, if they say next Wednesday you cannot assume it means in two days' time. It is is more likely to mean Wednesday of the coming week. Oh the laughs we've had about that [grits teeth ]. They claim it is a regional thing but I grew up only 60 miles away.

228agreenend · 29/03/2016 17:24

I'd say next weekend as the immediate one in sequence. Ie.2/3 April, and I would say next week is the upcoming week. Ie. Monday 4th onwards.

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 29/03/2016 17:27

I'm with the OP but my OH doesn't agree. Drives us both mad. And of course it is vitally important.

2rebecca · 29/03/2016 17:30

If I say "next Wednesday" on a Monday I mean the Wednesday of next week otherwise I'd say "this Wednesday" or more usually "Wednesday" as in "Come round at 7pm on Wednesday" if it's just the coming Wednesday.

Original poster
PennyHasNoSurname · 29/03/2016 17:42

So, everyone who is wrong opposes me, whats the situation with years?

Im going on holiday next year means 2017. Not 2018.

OP posts:
Abed · 29/03/2016 17:45

2018 would be year after next.

2rebecca · 29/03/2016 17:46

Next year is 2017. This year is 2016, just as this weekend is at the end of this week and next weekend is at the end of next week. I don't see why years are different to weeks.
"this" = the existing week/ year/ month
"next" = the week/ month /year after this one.

Theoretician · 29/03/2016 18:16

I'm with the majority, that next usually means the second one, because otherwise the word "next" has no business being in the sentence. Future tense is sufficient to refer to the first one to come along.

Having said that, this debate has been had here before, and there were examples given where I would agree that "next" was referring to the first one.

What it comes down to is "next" means adjacent to something that is not explicitly specified, therefore people are free to imagine different reference points that result in different meanings. An excellent example of this was given up-thread. "Next weekend" uttered on a Monday might well convey the first approaching weekend, as the one just passed might still be on the mind. "Next weekend" uttered on a Friday would convey to almost everyone the second weekend in the queue, because using it to refer to the one that was just hours away would be odd.

RomComPhooey · 29/03/2016 18:21

On a tuesday, if you say next weekend, that means the coming weekend right?

No, that would be this weekend. Next weekend is the one at the end of next week.

(DH and I debate this a lot, by the way, but I understood your friend perfectly. I think/work in blocks of a week, if that helps.)

Theoretician · 29/03/2016 18:22

Im going on holiday next year means 2017.

Yes it does. That's because the implied comparator is "this year" which is 2016. On the other hand, when you say "next weekend" the implied comparator (for most people) is "this weekend", which is the one coming up. There are presumably a subset of people who see "last weekend" as the comparator. However I suspect some of the people who think (on say a Wednesday) "next weekend" means the first one coming up are just poor users of English, as the word next is not needed to refer to the first coming along.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 29/03/2016 18:29

its a minefield, that's for sure.

I would think 'next weekend' meant the next one along. Therefore, this one coming up.

PuppyMonkey · 29/03/2016 18:38

This is why when I worked as a newspaper reporter, we weren't allowed to write "this Saturday" or "next weekend" etc. Too many people like the op who'd get confused. "On Saturday" or "April 9-10."

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