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Posted

OK, let's assume today is Sunday 9th. If someone says to you, I'll see you "next Wednesday", what date do you understand that to be - Wednesday 12th or 19th? 

I think, in England, it depends on what region you are from. For me, brought up in the West Country, it means Wednesday of next week (19th). If we meant the 12th, we'd say "this Wednesday". But for many of my friends, it means the coming Wednesday (12th).

How is it for you? 

Posted

I would assume they mean this coming Wednesday (12th). If they were to see me Wednesday the 19th, then I would expect them to say 'I will see you Wednesday week'.

I would though confirm the date that is meant, as I am aware of different understandings of the use of the word 'next'.

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Posted (edited)

About 9-11 days away for me is when I say “next”, that’s how I grew up. 1 day away obviously is “tomorrow”, the actual next Wednesday is just “Wednesday”. Now say today is Thursday , that’s when I’d most probably add something to clarify, like “Wednesday coming up” for 6 days, or “Next Wednesday, not the one coming up but in like 2 weeks”…..

Very good post @Bazle, it’s always good to be clear, well unless you want to be waiting at the restaurant alone for mixing up the date ! But yeah , next doesn’t actually mean next, it’s more like the “one after next “

Kind of redundant when you think of it. Like a streak in team sports….If Tottenham has won 12 matches in a row, technically they are on an 11, 10, 9…..game winning streak too, but we just don’t bother saying that 

Edited by Golfingboy
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Posted
1 hour ago, Horizondave said:

I would assume they mean this coming Wednesday (12th). If they were to see me Wednesday the 19th, then I would expect them to say 'I will see you Wednesday week'.

I would though confirm the date that is meant, as I am aware of different understandings of the use of the word 'next'.

Just remembered my first year of high school , had an English Humanities teacher, Mr Jones. He said your essays are due “Monday week”….then clarifies what it meant for all us 🇨🇦 kids. 
 

36 years later, and I’ve met all kinds of folks from the UK…..heard “fortnight “ a dozen times but seriously, never heard “Monday week” since 1988 when he said it 

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Posted (edited)

19th would be next Wednesday. 

If it was the 12th then I would expect them to say, see you Wednesday, or see you this Wednesday. 

Edited by boydeste
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Posted
1 hour ago, Golfingboy said:

Just remembered my first year of high school , had an English Humanities teacher, Mr Jones. He said your essays are due “Monday week”….then clarifies what it meant for all us 🇨🇦 kids. 
 

36 years later, and I’ve met all kinds of folks from the UK…..heard “fortnight “ a dozen times but seriously, never heard “Monday week” since 1988 when he said it 

Same here. Heard fortnight used many times, but until reading this topic can't ever remember hearing the term "Monday week".

As for "next". Either see you on Wednesday or see you next Wednesday mean the same to me; see you on the Wednesday the 12th.

If mean to say see you on the 19th, I would make it clear by saying see you on Wednesday the 19th.

As it is, when arranging a meeting I almost always specify the date along with the day of the week so there's no ambiguity on when we're meeting.

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Posted

Growing up in Northwest Florida, we said, ”I’ll see you this coming Wednesday” or “I’ll see you a week from Wednesday.” The only thing I remember about “next Wednesday” is people asking, “do you mean this coming Wednesday or a week from Wednesday” whenever they were told “See you next Wednesday.”

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Posted

If you go to see your favourite bar girl and mamasaan says you're next in line. Does that mean it's your turn when she finishes with the current customer or you'll get to see her sometime the week after next?

 

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Posted (edited)

As with you Baz, this Wednesday would be this week, next Wednesday would be next week - we often say in Suffolk in such a case "Baz, I'll see you later, not this Wednesday, but next Wednesday mate when you can buy me a San Miguel light you tight c**t".

This = This week

Next = Next week.

Edited by Butch
Posted

As can be seen in the replies, "next" is too ambiguous.  I'd say this Wednesday for the 12th and a week on Wednesday for the 19th.

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Posted

Oddly enough, it seems to be a Thai thing, too. Midweek, I messaged my gardener telling her to come 'next Sunday', by which I meant the first Sunday after whatever day of the week it was. But she asked for clarification, did I mean Sunday on the coming weekend, or the Sunday one week after that?

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Posted

If someone said to me next Wed, or if i said it, it would mean the 19th, to me anyway.

The 12th would be 'See you on Wed'.

But i'd confirm, like saying 'Now next Wed, Wed 19th, not this coming Wed on the 12th'.

But don't worry Baz, if you missed your hot date for whatever reason, there's plenty more 

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Posted

Ah yes, I think this deserves mention of the quaint limey practice of saying "half(insert hour here)" - this one really gets my pitifully inadequate colonial brain confused.

I am inclined to think that "half seven" would be 6:30, i.e. half of 7 o'clock - but no, my English friends say that it really means 7:30 - how odd, methinks - because that is half an hour AFTER 7:00 - which  I would interpret as being half of 8:00 o'clock.

I'll get my coat....

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Stillearly said:

"Half seven" is just a shortened version of "half past seven"  , we also have "quarter past" for +15 mins or "quarter to" for -15 mins 

Yes, we also say "quarter past" and "quarter to" in Canada, but we would also say "half PAST seven" so surely you can see where my confusion happens when I hear "half seven" - I never heard this particular phrase until I started hanging around with you lot in Thailand, lol....

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Posted
1 hour ago, maipenrai said:

Yes, we also say "quarter past" and "quarter to" in Canada, but we would also say "half PAST seven" so surely you can see where my confusion happens when I hear "half seven" - I never heard this particular phrase until I started hanging around with you lot in Thailand, lol....

Glad we could educate you. Now, your duty is to educate the rest of Canada...  😉

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Posted

In Germany "half seven" would also mean 6:30 😉 though I wasn´t aware that this could be a short form of "half past seven" which I´d prefer in order to keep clarity 🙂

Therefore "next" regarding to wednesday - when said on sunday - I´d also assume the wednesday the week after, since if the upcoming wednesday would´ve been meant I´d just say "wednesday" - without "next".

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