Next Thursday...Is it this week or next week?

alleepally

RTE have slipped into a desperate habit which is confusing the hell out of me, either that or it's just me that gets confused.

e.g. TV news tonight reporting on the Bush inauguration. It happens on Thursday 20th (3 days away). It was referred to in the report as follows

"Security is being stepped up for President Bush's inauguration next Thursday"... or words to that effect. I had to look at the calendar as to me NEXT Thursday is next week. Or is that my incorrect understanding..

aidan_walsh

alleepally wrote:

RTE have slipped into a desperate habit which is confusing the hell out of me, either that or it's just me that gets confused.

e.g. TV news tonight reporting on the Bush inauguration. It happens on Thursday 20th (3 days away). It was referred to in the report as follows

"Security is being stepped up for President Bush's inauguration next Thursday"... or words to that effect. I had to look at the calendar as to me NEXT Thursday is next week. Or is that my incorrect understanding..

To me it depends on which side of this Friday you are

PurpleFistMixer

Yeah, that kind of thing bugs me too.
The way I see it, "this thursday" is the thursday coming. "Next thursday" is the thursday after that. It doesn't matter what side of sunday or whatever week you're on (like if it were saturday and someone said "next wednesday"), saying "this" is just so much simpler.


Or we could all just start using dates and forget the entire day thing. "No school 22nd" etc.

The_Conductor

I agree with you 100%
This coming Friday should be the next Friday that occurs, be it tomorrow or in 7 days time. I would assume "next" Friday to mean something similar- but always have a sense of unease whenever anyone uses that term and ask them to clarify it. To me, it somehow conjures up an image of Friday of next week, regardless of whether its only Monday of this week or not.......
Its annoying in the extreme- not to mention confusing.......

Arrrggghhhhhh!!!!

radiospan

To me, "Thursday next" means the Thursday coming.

What's "Thursday week" so? Is that the same as what ye think should be "next thursday"?

Lump

Next Thursday is indeed NEXT WEEK

John

Steven

Doesn't seem too confusing to me.

Next Thursday (and this Thursday) means the next Thursday (or this coming Thursday) ie. Anywhere from 1 to 7 days away.

Thursday week is Thursday + a week ie. From 8 to 15 days away.

gimmick

Nest Thursady is exactly that - the next Thursday.

Going by other logic, next thursday week, would be thursday fortnight?

mike65

It depends what day it is. If its Monday then I'd say "This Thursday", if it was Tuesday I'd simply say "Thursday".

If I was refering to Thursday next week I'd say "Next Thursday" if I was confident the listener knew what I meant but as this is Ireland where the This/Next problem is long-standing I'd proberly have to say "Thursday, next week".

Clear!?

Mike.

sceptre

Steven wrote:

Doesn't seem too confusing to me.

Next Thursday (and this Thursday) means the next Thursday (or this coming Thursday) ie. Anywhere from 1 to 7 days away.

Thursday week is Thursday + a week ie. From 8 to 15 days away.

That's the logic that I'd run with.

steveland?

The way I see it: this Thursday means the Thursday that will happen soonest

Next Thursday is the Thursday that happens after that

alleepally

Oh my, what a kerfuffle!!

DEmeant0r

Next Thursday to me means the closest Thursday.

Blisterman

They had this argument in Seinfeld.

ixoy

Well I had a scout around and there's no clear or fast rule. There's a thread here ,here , here , and here offhand on the alt.english.usage newsgroup over the last ten years. The common leaning seems to be that, in American English, the term "Thursday next" would refer to the Thursday of the week after this one. UK English tries to avoid this ambiguity by saying "Thursday week" in place of "Thursday next". However, the confusion is still there, as proved by RTE...

Mothman

Steven wrote:

Doesn't seem too confusing to me.

Next Thursday (and this Thursday) means the next Thursday (or this coming Thursday) ie. Anywhere from 1 to 7 days away.

Thursday week is Thursday + a week ie. From 8 to 15 days away.

How could it be anything esle?

Demeant0r wrote:

Next Thursday to me means the closest Thursday

So if it is Friday, do you mean yesterday?

[Jackass]

Today is Tuesday, in two days time it's "this thursday", in nine days time it's "next thursday"....

"This" implying this week, "Next" implying next week.

Or if you want to put it in an analigie (or however its spelt), if your sitting in a train station having a great conversation with your mate and the sign sais Train arriving in 5 minutes you might say: Im not getting "This" train, i'll get the "Next" one i.e the one after the coming one. :cool:

woosaysdan

DubGuy22 wrote:

Today is Tuesday, in two days time it's "this thursday", in nine days time it's "next thursday"....

"This" implying this week, "Next" implying next week.

Or if you want to put it in an analigie (or however its spelt), if your sitting in a train station having a great conversation with your mate and the sign sais Train arriving in 5 minutes you might say: Im not getting "This" train, i'll get the "Next" one i.e the one after the coming one. :cool:

i couldnt of put it better

flamin moe

'this' thursday and 'next' thursday are always the same day, unless it happens to be thursday - when 'this' thursday is today, and 'next' thursday is one week away.

karlh

i just got a nose bleed.

seamus

Yeah, I'm in the 'this week/this thursday', 'next week/next thursday' group.

Makes literal sense to me. It also varies depending on dialect. I'd never say "Thursday next", it's always "Next thursday" implying "Thursday of next week".

I'd actually be similar to Mike. If I'm in the week, it's "Thursday" and "Next Thursday". I'd only use "this Thursday" if someone asked me to clarify.

I also get people confused in the past tense. I'll say "it was on Thursday", not "it was last Thursday", as "last Thursday" is "Thursday last week" for me. I expect people to read a lot into the context of my speech, and opposed to what they think it means .

mike65

Thanks Seamus now I have a nose bleed!

This topic brings me onto the issue of "bring/take". Finally after 30 years here I've gone native and found myself saying "I'll bring it out to..." instead of "I'll take it out to..."

Mike.

namaimo

My head hurts....

eefs

The word "Thursday" has ceased to hold any meaning for me.

billy the squid

the thursday that happens in two days I would say "thursday"
the thursday that happens next week would be "thursday week"