I voted 6, because I live in Finland, and nothing else would make sense to me. From my point of view, we are talking about days, not weeks, and I don't know why they should be mixed.

But it's your language...

What the giraffe said.

1. Decide when you think the week starts.
2. Divide the days up into the different weeks, each being a group of seven days.
3. "Next <InsertDayName>" is in the following week.

If you think the week starts on Monday, for instance, using the original example:

The Saturday would be in the next week, hence would be next Saturday. The Saturday following that would be Saturday week or a week on Saturday

It varies, however.

On Sunday, it would be rare to refer to the following Monday as next Monday, as it would simply be tomorrow, or Monday. However it would still technically be next Monday,

<3 italics.

Same as lassev. The week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday here.

Actually, I didn't consider the week aspect of it. That's a good point.
You could interpret it as:
This Saturday = the next Saturday to occur
Next Saturday = the Saturday that occurs in the week that follows this one.

I don't think I would interpret it as such, though. In this example though, if we accept Monday as the start of the week, it makes no difference.

Another question: if today is Saturday, does 'this Saturday' refer to today, or 7 days time?

This Saturday would be today, next Saturday would be in 7 days.

You wouldn't actually use this Saturday however.

FullMetal's right. If you were standing on a manhole cover and said "this manhole cover", it'd be pretty clear which manhole cover you're referring to (the one you're standing on). On the other hand, if you said "the next manhole cover," it would be similarly clear that you're referring to a different cover.

Analogies are fun.

And speaking of analogies: colloquialisms. There was a time when I would have agreed with you, Geb, before I started to seriously study languages. Not so much anymore, though.

The thing with languages is, they're basically codes. Symbols composed of noises and/or text which represent individual concepts. A code only works if everyone involved knows the code. Colloquialisms happen when people decide to change the code, for whatever reason (usually because it's easier or they haven't been properly educated). The problem with that is that colloqialisms are by definition localised; not everybody is in on this new code, and that impairs communication, which of course is the entire purpose of communication.

Now of course I realise that this is the natural path of languages -- to build up colloquialisms and dialectical differences until two groups are no longer able to understand one another -- but that doesn't mean that we should allow it to happen without attempting to stop or slow it. Information theory dictates that any highly ordered system will inevitably decay into a less ordered system, unless acted upon by an intelligent source. We are that intelligent source. If we don't act to preserve the universal integrity of our language, it will cease to perform its primary function -- communication.

...you thought I was kidding when I said I was passionate about linguistics, didn't you?

next saturday - 6 days

saturday after next - 13 days

I voted 6 my days because birthday is November13.

Yes, so if you get off that manhole cover, and start walking to the next one, and your friend asked you where you were going, you would say, "I'm going to this *pointing* manhole cover, and then I'm going to the next one."

The analogy falls apart there, because without a calendar to point at, you cant point at "this saturday"

The next Saturday (this Saturday) is 6 days away.

Why? Because the week starts on Monday, not Sunday.

But what if you're Jewish?

Quoted for agreeingablenessage

Me too.
Unfortunately, I voted wrong.

Alright, here's how I talk...as "moronic" as it may be.

As far as I'm concerned, Monday is the first day of the new week. That's just the way I think. Then I refer to each day within it's respective week. Just how fullmetal broke it down.

Therefore, if it's currently Friday, the previous day would be "this Thursday." If I saw a movie yesterday, it would be confusing to say "I saw it last Thursday," even though yesterday would be the "last Thursday" to have took place.

So the same applies for a Sunday. If I say I did something "this Saturday," I did it yesterday...and I want to be specific on the day. If I'm going to do something the coming Saturday, I would say "next Saturday," and the day before would be "this Saturday."

"This week's Saturday," on my week-starts-Monday schedule. But frankly, I've never really had a problem when trying to communicate days, and I can't see it beeing much of an issue anywhere else, either...maybe we shouldn't think about it so much...

(And by the way, even I was confused by my last post. I think I mixed up a "this" and "next" somewhere. Terrific.)

Actually, the analogy holds. If on Sunday I say "Something is happening this Saturday," and then say "Something else is happening the next Saturday," "next Saturday" would then refer to the Saturday thirteen days from now, because you've moved the reference point from "today" to "this Saturday". However, if you don't do this, next Saturday should normally refer to the first subsequent Saturday from today.

Example: you get off the manhole cover, and your friend asks you where you're going. You say "I'm going to the next manhole cover," which your friend correctly takes to mean the first manhole cover down the street.

For Tyler and the others concerned about which week it is -- I don't see what weeks have to do with anything, here. We're not talking about "next week" or "the week after next", but rather "next Saturday" or "the Saturday after next". It'd be like saying "next week" when you really mean the first week of the next month. Or saying "the next manhole cover" when you really mean the first manhole cover on the next street.

Again, you and your friends might be able to make sense of what you're saying, because everyone else in your local area speaks the same dialect and uses the same colloquialisms. It's not, however, grammatically correct.

It can be interpreted either way. "Next Saturday" and "The Next Saturday" are two different days in my book, if you were to say "The Next Saturday" it would be 6 days. Meh.

I voted 13 days, but my mind has been changed by Krig's strong argument.

Well I won't argue that anything I say is gramatically correct, then. That wasn't really my point. I just wanted to chime in how I have been able to successfully communicate with all the human beings I've met in my 19 years of experience with the English language. If it's wrong; it's wrong...but that's still how I talk, and it's still how people understand me.

Your arguement, Krig, is very sound. But I'd never go through the trouble of having to explain that I'm refering to "tomorrow" when, on a Tuesday, I say "next Wednesday."

Today, Monday: "Is Halo 2 coming out next Tuesday? No, it's coming out this Tuesday." That's how weeks factor into my...version of English.

I have 2 words for you:

Context dammit

Right. Weeks are my context.

Here is my proposition for how we should refer to the days of the week using Sunday as today:

8 days ago: Saturday before last
7 days ago: last Sunday
6 days ago: last Monday
5 days ago: last Tuesday
4 days ago: last Wednesday
3 days ago: last Thursday
2 days ago: last Friday, day before yesterday
1 day ago: yesterday, last Saturday
Now: Today, this Sunday
1 day from now: Tomorrow, Monday, this Monday, next Monday
2 days from now: day after tomorrow, Tuesday, this Tuesday, next Tuesday
3 days from now: Wednesday, this Wednesday, next Wednesday
4 days from now: Thursday, this Thursday, next Thursday
5 days from now: this Friday, next Friday
6 days from now: this coming Saturday, next Saturday
7 days from now: next Sunday, a week from now
8 days from now: Monday after next, a week from Monday, next week Monday
13 days from now: Saturday after next, a week from this coming Saturday, next week Saturday

This is of course assuming there is no context in the conversation which would indicate an exception. For instance, if we were discussing a concert or something a month from now, and I said "So we'll meet there at 6:00 on Friday?", the Friday in question would obviously be next month, not this coming Friday. On the other hand, if I just walked up and said "So we'll meet there at 6:00 on Friday?", with no context, it would automatically refer to this coming Friday. Similarly with "this Friday" and "next Friday".

I disagree with that.
Anyone who says "Last Saturday" in reference to "Yesterday" should be drawn and quartered.

See, that's the tricky thing about this discussion; the rift between what's grammatically correct within the English language to say, and what people actually do say.

I'm assuming you're addressing someone else here -- I've talked to you enough to know otherwise.

As for your huge spiel on the nature of languages, perhaps the word "colloquialism" shouldn't be applied here. If we want to get real nitpicky, it simply means the language used in speech rather than text, and what we comprehend visually differs from what we comprehend auditory-wise. But even applying the more understood meaning of the word, this situation could very well apply on a larger scale, and not on a smaller. That is, trying to stay bound to grammar in certain situations such as this one might only serve to LIMIT communication rather than broaden it. Remember, the English system of language, just like any SYSTEM, is the product of a person(s), and thus the "localized" understanding effect is already placed. (on a tangent: there's only really one "real" language I'm aware of that's been formed since there was a "global villiage" -- don't remember what it's called, but it's the more artificial one that attempted to not use different words for tenses and the like. Anywhos...) What you might see then as a system breaking down into localized understanding might be in fact a system CHANGING into a more universal understanding. This is not taking into account how communication must change to adapt movement in state -- time, spacial location, state of knowledge...

You compared language to code, which is true, to a degree. Language, unlike other logical systems (math, analytical philosophy, physics...) is dependant on human interactivity, which is a relative process, or at the very least a system so filled with variables as to be practically relative (to continue this train of thought would inevitably lead to the nature of truth, logic vs faith, fate vs free will, etc. etc. so I will jump off the train of thought here). It is, by necessity, not JUST by nature, an informal system.

I still say this argument shows that we need to find better ways of communicating. We need the wise Dormouse to give his input on this thread.

I believe this happens mostly when a person happens to, momentarily, forget that Saturday was yesterday, and thinks he's already living some day further on.

On a sunday, if someone said, do ya wanna do something next saturday? (or whatever sentence) i would assume they meant in 6 days.

If they said that to me I'd ask them, but I'd be thinking they meant in 13 days.
To me Sunday is the start of the week, and 'this Saturday' means 'this Saturday coming', next Saturday is the one after that.
Or in other words, 'this Saturday' means the Saturday in 'this week', 'next Saturday' is the Saturday that's in 'next Saturday'