Is ‘next Sunday’ the one coming up or the one after?

[user9812]

Just that really. If today is Wednesday and someone refers to ‘next Sunday’ do they mean the one in 4 days time or 11 days time? I assumed 4 days time.

Next Sunday is the one coming up, Sunday after next is the one in 11 days.

If today is Sunday 'next Sunday' does mean the next Sunday. Otherwise it means the Sunday after the next one.

Are we voting? Is

4 days time vote YABU
11 days time vote YANBU

I think 11 days time :)

Next Sunday to me is the Sunday coming. It's the next Sunday in the calendar. I call the other Sunday the following Sunday.

This Sunday is in three days time.

Next Sunday is the one after.

'This Sunday' is the next one coming.
'Next Sunday' is the one after that.

You could see someone without English as first language finding that quite confusing. As it's 'next' but it's not 'next'?

I think the problem lies in whether the person referring to “next Sunday” sees this Sunday as next Sunday, or the next Sunday, which is technically the Sunday coming up. Funnily enough I have had the exact same conversations with both my daughter and my partner - seperately. I personally think if you say next Sunday you need to clarify whether you mean this Sunday or the one coming afterwards. I do need clarification on this myself!
edited due to me confusing myself!

I'd disagree with most (you should have done a poll). If it's Wednesday, next Sunday is 4 days time. It's ambiguous though, so I'd usually clarify.

What about 'next week'?
When is that?

Agree

Yes, that is the intention!

It's not just non-native speakers that find it confusing - there's lots of disagreement on this thread (assuming that must are native speakers).

Yes, I’m a native speaker. It caused confusion when discussing plans with a friend (also a native speaker), which led me to ask on here. Luckily we spotted the issue before it became a problem but I will be extra careful in the future

Yeah that's true! 😅

Here's one to blow your mind.

What we call a fortnight, the French call "quinze jours", which means fifteen days.

And as for the Germans: when they say "halb zwei" (half two), they mean half past one: in other words, they mean "half to two". At least, this was the case when I learned German.

It makes no sense really to call the Sunday after the next one "next Sunday".

To me, next Sunday and this Sunday are referring to the same day. The one after that is a week on Sunday.

To me the next sundy is the next sunday in the week, so one in 4 days time

The one after.

What are you all talking about? Next Sunday would be the one coming up, OR this Sunday. Not the one the week after. You don’t say next week when you mean the week after next.

I would assume the one in 4 days time but I just had this with DS and he thought the opposite so I was waiting for him to arrive and he didn’t!

This week, next week, the week after next.

This Sunday, next Sunday, the Sunday after next.

The one after … the next one?!

11 days. The one in 4 days is this Sunday.

Agh I have this argument with DH all the time. For the absence of confusion I would say
3 days ago is this Sunday past
4 days hence is this Sunday coming
11 days is Sunday week