Heart and Mind

"This Sunday" vs. "Next Sunday"

Today is Friday.

This morning I received an invitation to a dinner party "next Sunday." That got me thinking.

When someone tells you on Friday that something is happeining "next" Sunday, does that mean a week and two days from now? Of course, we know that's usually true. But should it be?

You see, this kind of thing always screws me up because people like to say "next" Sunday, assuming that the upcoming one is "this" Sunday...even though "this" Sunday IS the "next" one. Isn't there something wrong there?

I mean, you don't say, "My next door neighbor" to refer to the one two down from you, right?

I guess it is "next WEEK's Sunday." As opposed to "THIS week's Sunday." That kind of mentality probably has something to do with the origins of the word.

However, if we analyze that further, it still doesn't hold water. When does the week start? Usually we start it on Sunday and end it on Saturday. That's what a calendar will confirm. So that means that today, on Friday, we're talking about two days from now, even if we are talking about "next week's" or just plain "next" Sunday. Next should represent two days from now on all accounts, except in the allowances we make for the common vernacular.

If fact, there should never be a "this week's Sunday" on a Sunday to Saturday schedule. It would either be "today" (if it were Sunday) or it would be "next week's Sunday" (if we referenced it on any other day of the week). UNLESS, of course, we were speaking about a past event. On Tuesday, perhaps, we'd say, "It happened THIS [past] Sunday."

"We had fun THIS Sunday, so we'll do it again NEXT Sunday."

I really do think about these things, and it should surprise no one that I have some OCD in me.

As I explained all this, I also mused that it all "sounds like a new blog entry." And here we are.

But in the meantime, I just wanted to know what the date of the dinner was. Is it scheduled for a week from the nearest, "nextest" Sunday?

Of course it was.

But this is still all screwed up, because there isn't even consistency from scenario to scenario. I mean, if we agree that the next one is "this" one and the one that follows that is "next," we should hold it across the board. However, if I were to say, today, on Friday, that "we're meeting a week from next Tuesday," I'd probably mean the Tuesday after the one in four days. It would come across sounding the same as if I simply said, "A week from Tuesday," without adding the next. But I did, but the date a week from the nearest, imminent Tuesday should be "next" Tuesday, and, hence, the meeting, which is a week from that date, should be forteen days from the most imminent Tuesday. Think about it.

I like to be clear. I like to be understood. I like to understand others. The way we talk about "this" and "next"... it's just such a fallible way of speaking and it naturally is going to make a guy like me start questioning things.

Either way, TGIF.

posted by Steve @ 4:33 PM