A little debate going on in my family...

Next saturday would be the next saturday comeing. Not sure how'd you'd get 13 days later.

Technically this is the start of the week so this Saturday would pertain to the upcoming Saturday (13 Nov 2004). Next Saturday would mean the Saturday 13 days from now (20 Nov. 2004).

In response to COTF:

By that logic though, if it was say Thursday, then you would also have to say "next Saturday," and would that not clearly indicate you meant 9 days from now?

6 days = "this Saturday"
13 days = "next Saturday"

If today were friday, saturday would be tomorrow and next saturday would be next week. In the scenario you've set up, however, next saturday means 6 days.

I voted 13 days, just because November 20th is my birthday.

...no...way.

Well, looks like Massassi has to celebrate twice that day.

6 days from Sunday = Next Saturday, this Saturday

13 days from Sunday = Saturday week

Happy? :p

between 6 and 7 days. From any point in the day, add seven times 24 and you'll end up on the same day the week after. If it's 11am, the next sunday starts in (7 * 24) - 11.

It still doesnt make sense. If it were Wednesday, would you still say "next Saturday?" No, you would say "this Saturday." It applies for Sunday as well.

I'm with Emon.

Well screw you guys.

Wow, all your opinions are wrong (People who voted for 6).
Let me break down what you people who voted 6 days are saying:
Father and son are getting into their car.
"Dad, can I drive the car?"
"Sure son, next time."
"Thanks dad."
The son gets in the driver's seat and they drive off.

How the hell does that make sense?

And Spork and Omicron, wtf are you smoking? Spork's excuse is he lives in kangaroo land and they don't have schools there, Omicron?

Um... I'm... American?

I think people are voting for 6 days just to enrage me.

It's obvious. As Emon stated, "this saturday" is in six days, and "next saturday" is in 13 days. Otherwise, if "next saturday" was in 6 days, then what would "this saturday" refer to? It would have to mean yesterday, which is clearly absurd.

For example, if it is Sunday, you wouldn't hear this conversation:

"Hey mom, can I go out this Saturday?"
"No"
"Why not?"
"Because that was yesterday, and you never went out yesterday."

It depends on how close you are to saturday, If it is sunday, then saying this saturday could mean yesterday. Look at the Friday movies. Friday, Next Friday take place one week from the first, and Friday after next Etc.. I guess it would also depend on the context you use and were your from.

Next Saturday NEVER refers to the first saturday coming. Ever. Everyone who voted for 6 is stupid. It doesn't make sense.

The solution to this problem clearly requires the assistance of good ol' Merriam-Webster.

THIS: 1 a (1) : the person, thing, or idea that is present or near in place, time, or thought or that has just been mentioned <these are my hands>

NEXT: 1 : immediately adjacent (as in place, rank, or time)

Clearly, "this" Saturday means "Saturday which is near in time." Similarly, "next" means "Saturday which is immediately adjacent in time". Now, unless time has become some crazy non-linear thing which jumps around from point to point, the Saturday "immediately adjacent in time" to Sunday would be in 6 days.

Using "next Saturday" to refer to the Saturday after next is a colloquialism, plain and simple. Colloquialisms are what happens when people say things because they "sound right", rather than thinking about whether they make grammatical sense.



Yeah. I'm strangely passionate about grammar. It confuses me, sometimes. [The passion, that is, not the grammar. Whoops, sentence fragment!]

That definition of next is out of context. You lose, go back to school.

This thread is going to permanetly divide Massassi.

Someone please close it.

Dude, the only other definition of next is...

2 : any other considered hypothetically <knew it as well as the next man>

...which doesn't even vaguely apply to this situation. Next = immediately adjacent. To determine which Saturday is closer to being immediately adjacent, one must only ask one's self: is six days closer than thirteen days?

I am now convinced that people are only voting 6 to agitate me, there is no way the greater portion of Massassi could be such dumbasses

The Saturday immediately adjacent to THIS Saturday is NEXT Saturday. It being Sunday, and time moving in a linear fashion, THIS Saturday is 6 days away and so the Saturday immedietly adjacent to THIS Saturday (ie NEXT Saturday) is 13 days away.

I acknowledge the fact that technically, the first day of the week is Sunday, and that technically, the term "next Saturday" would mean the Saturday of the next week, so 13 days.

However, in my nearly 20 years of experience on this planet, I've found that if speaking on a Sunday and refering to the coming Saturday as "next Saturday," I will get less people saying "what...you mean this Saturday, or next Saturday?" than if I actually say next Saturday. Generally, people feel like its still "last week" on Sunday, since for all intensive purposes Monday is the first day of the week.

So I say 6 days.

Wow everyone you know must be morons; damn shame that.

Ah, but adjacency is measured from today, in this case Sunday. "This Saturday" and "Next Saturday" are synonyms.

Ty: which week it is would only come into play if we were discussing weeks as a whole, rather than a specific day (Saturday). However, since we are in fact discussing a specific day, that makes the default unit of measurement days, rather than weeks.

Next Saturday is the Saturday which occurs next after today.

(An all out grammar war! Wheee!)

...?

...Okay. (Wow.)

I'm going to stop insulting people (READ: Posting) before I get banned. This is the stupidest thing ever.

Soo... you're saying that "This Saturday" and "Next Saturday" are not synonyms? Please demonstrate, I'm interested in hearing your reasoning on this. Also, I'm willing to be convinced that my position is wrong, if it can be proven so.

(PS: Insult me all you want, I'm just curious. And thick skinned. I don't mind. )

I'm with JG and Emon

IMAO "This <anything>" and "Next <anything>" are never synonyms; apply it to anything besides days of the week and see if it makes sense. [Bad example removed]

The words "next" and "this" are not strict synonyms by themselves because "next" is an adjective and "this" is a pronoun. However, their meaning is extremely similar -- "this" refers to something that is nearby, "next" refers to the state of being nearby (though it is more specific than "this", since it refers to something which is immediately adjacent).

Technically speaking, "this" Saturday should refer to the nearest Saturday in relation to today (Sunday), which would be yesterday. However, since we as a culture plan for the future more than we think about the past, we tend to think of "this" Saturday as being the nearest Saturday which is still in the future.

"Next" Saturday, on the other hand, tends to refer exclusively to the nearest Saturday which is to occur subsequently to today, which is of course the one six days from now.

You were right, Mikus, in that the two phrases are not strictly speaking synonyms. However, the only real difference in meaning is that "next" is actually more specific than "this", since it refers to "immediately adjacent" or "immediately subsequent", rather than simply "near" or "close".

As a bit of an aside, I would theorize that the habit of using "next Saturday" to refer to the Saturday thirteen days from now arose from the phrase "the Saturday after next Saturday" or "Saturday after next". Through repeated (and sloppy) usage, the "after" was dropped, leaving "Saturday next" or "next Saturday". (Similar to Spork's "Saturday week" or "a week from Saturday")

Keep in mind that language in general is informal, and thus colloquialisms carry more weight than a grammar nazi might like to admit. The argument here can't be solved simply with dictionaries and grammar analysis. Though it's certainly a start.

Personally, I think this argument just shows that we need to find better ways of communicating approaching days

I agree with Spork.

"this Saturday" and "next Saturday" are equivalent; the next Saturday after today that occurs. Actually, I think "next Saturday" depends on the proximity of now to the next Saturday. If it were Friday, "next Saturday" would be ambiguous and require clarification.

"Saturday week" - The second Saturday after today that occurs.

And "last Saturday" refers to the last Saturday that occurred. Obviously.

By that explanation, the conversation takes place on Saturday. Let's take this analogy and translate it back to the actual thing we're debating:
Saturday morning
Son: Dad, what are we doing next Saturday?
Dad: We're going to the park.
Exit stage left, in the direction of the park.

No, you're right, that doesn't make sense, but since it's Sunday we're discussing, the Saturday has passed, and your example should be:

Father and son are getting out of their car.
"Dad, can I drive the car?"
"Sure son, next time."
"Thanks dad."
On the next trip, the son gets in the driver's seat and they drive off.

Next saturday = 6 days time