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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:
Theoretician · 29/03/2016 18:40

Actually, people who think "next" means the first one are probably using "now" as their comparator.

I think there mostly is no right or wrong, just different people placing different valid interpretations on something that is not explicitly specified.

ThenLaterWhenItGotDark · 29/03/2016 18:48

OP- if you are Italian, then you are right.

It's an argument I have all the time here, and often find myself almost being in the wrong place on the wrong weekend.

For Italians "next" anything, is the nearest one coming up. "Next Wednesday" is bleeding tomorrow for example. Hmm

Squiff85 · 29/03/2016 19:25

Next weekend - 9/10th April.

This weekend/at the weekend - 2/3 April.

Next weekend is one after this coming weekend

magratvonlipwig · 29/03/2016 20:10

I agree that the first weekend in the future is this weekend...unless its sat or sunday now, in which case we are "in" this weekend. Next weekend is the one after this weekend. This weeekend is always your reference point.
That said, it confuses a lot of people so id always clarify with the date too!

Ps..im going away this weekend and next weekend we are staying home!

NancyJoan · 29/03/2016 20:11

I am entirely with you, OP. The coming weekend is next weekend. Always.

GabiSolis · 29/03/2016 20:17

OP if it helps, think of it like this:

THIS week's weekend.
NEXT week's weekend.

'Next weekend' is the one that belongs to 'next week'.

FrizzlyAdams · 29/03/2016 21:10

This weekend = the upcoming weekend.

Next weekend = the weekend after the upcoming weekend.

Anything else is wrong. Grin

DadDadDad · 29/03/2016 21:37

The only people who are wrong are those who insist that their interpretation is the only correct one. As this thread has demonstrated competent native speakers may interpret this expression differently. Usually context will clarify but the OP's friend's failing was not to realise it could be misunderstood.

AndNowItsSeven · 29/03/2016 21:45

Op you are correct next weekend is the weekend coming up next so 2nd April. Everyone else is very confused.

AndNowItsSeven · 29/03/2016 21:58

April primal not March Grin

PrimalLass · 29/03/2016 22:16

Jeez, of course. My brain is fried Grin

laineylou · 29/03/2016 23:30

The word weekend is now looking like a made up word to me...

6o6o842 · 30/03/2016 01:05

Next weekend is the next weekend that you're going to have, so on a Tuesday it starts in 4 days time. However, the closer you get to the weekend it makes more sense to call it 'this weekend'...so when you're sitting on the cusp of the weekend, so close that you may as well say it's the weekend, then next weekend is the following week. It's confusing...if you want to be clear use dates.

DadDadDad · 30/03/2016 01:09

6o6o - you neatly encapsulate how I think I would normally use it, but there's probably little point trying to set out a neat logical argument - both "sides" have tried that, and I don't think there's going to be a killer explanation that is going to settle it either way.

FrizzlyAdams · 30/03/2016 02:03

No!

This week = This Monday to Sunday
therefore
This weekend = This Saturday & Sunday

Next week = Next Monday to Sunday
therefore
Next weekend = Next Saturday & Sunday

The weekend is literally the end of the week, so it doesn't make sense for this week's Saturday & Sunday to be called 'next weekend'; it has to be this weekend because it is the end of this week.

DadDadDad · 30/03/2016 07:44

Frizzly - again, all perfectly logical and reasonable, it's just half the world makes a different interpretation. If it's Monday and you say "next weekend" don't assume your listener is in your camp.

What happens in other languages?

kungfupannda · 30/03/2016 08:13

I'm with the majority.

This weekend = the one coming up
Next weekend = the one at the end of next week.

I have, however, realised that I might have an odd linguistic relationship with weekends that have already been and gone. If it's early in the week and I want to refer to the weekend just gone I would say 'the weekend', and let the rest of the sentence distinguish it from the weekend that's coming, e.g. at the weekend we went to....

If I wanted to talk about the previous weekend, I'd say 'last weekend.'

But if it was Thursday or Friday, the weekend just gone would probably have morphed into 'last weekend' and the one before would be 'the other weekend.' 'The weekend' would now refer to the coming weekend - when 'this weekend' wasn't being used.

Christ. I have two linguistics degrees and I write for a living, but there is clearly something very wrong with my grasp of the English language...

MeanwhileHighAboveTheField · 30/03/2016 08:43

Think of it this way"this week...the end of"

"next week....the end of"

FrizzlyAdams · 30/03/2016 09:49

DadDadDad, to be honest I usually say this weekend coming & next weekend 'the one after this one' if anyone requires clarification.

If someone made arrangements with me for 'next weekend' I would always clarify what they actually mean with "what? the weekend after this one?"

It would help so much though if everyone just said it the right way in the first place...

DadDadDad · 30/03/2016 09:55

There is no right way, but it would help if everyone did it the same way. Clearly, that's not going to happen, unless the government decide to put it in the SATs and raise a generation all following one convention.Shock

FrizzlyAdams · 30/03/2016 11:04

I wouldn't put it past them GrinGrin

DadDadDad · 30/03/2016 11:18

I'm still interested in how it works in other languages. French speakers, if it's Monday and someone asks the following are you thinking about 5 days or 12 days from now?

Qu'est-ce que tu vas faire le weekend prochain?

By the way, I copied that from here and before this thread I would have interpreted the English translation as meaning the weekend at the end of the current week. www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/french/speakingh/h02_conv_fitness_rev3.shtml

DadDadDad · 30/03/2016 11:26

Aha, googled further - my French is a bit rusty but it seems there may be the same ambiguity there too: correcteurs.blog.lemonde.fr/2008/03/25/a-quand-le-prochain/

FrizzlyAdams · 30/03/2016 11:34

voulez-vous dire « week-end prochain » comme dans le week-end après cette venue un ou ce week-end à venir?

(Blatantly googled English to French translator to answer your question Dad).

The truth is that I have no idea how other languages pick through this particular minefield.
It's just something that always requires clarification I think.

TyneTeas · 30/03/2016 12:13

This summer would be 2016

Next summer would be 2017

Weekends follow the same pattern to me