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February 14, 2026, 10:23:14 am
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Author Topic: A question about language  (Read 1538 times)  Share 

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Joseph41

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A question about language
« on: April 10, 2017, 02:18:20 pm »
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Okay, so say today were Thursday 10th May (an arbitrarily chosen date). If I were to say to you, "see you next Wednesday", on which date would you be expecting to see me?
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elysepopplewell

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Re: A question about language
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2017, 06:47:31 pm »
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Damn peculiarities of the language.

I was talking about this with my flatmate the other day. He teaches English to Italians and he says he often has trouble explaining the use of this. We both decided that in the instance you've given, we would say "next Wednesday" as in, it is the next Wednesday in our lives. It is the next Wednesday we will experience. But, when it hits Sunday/Monday, we start to say "this Wednesday" as it approaches, it's more immediate. Once you're in the week of the day, it becomes "this." Then, when the coming Wednesday becomes "this Wednesday" the Wednesday after becomes "next Wednesday."

I always find myself clarifying (even to English speakers) that I mean, "this Wednesday coming" or "not this Wednesday, but the Wednesday after."
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jamonwindeyer

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Re: A question about language
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2017, 06:56:02 pm »
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Nick, I will see you on Wednesday 23rd - My Dad and I have proper solid arguments over this when we get dates mixed up  :-X
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Sine

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Re: A question about language
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2017, 07:07:21 pm »
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Quote from: Joseph41 on April 10, 2017, 02:18:20 pm
Okay, so say today were Thursday 10th May (an arbitrarily chosen date). If I were to say to you, "see you next Wednesday", on which date would you be expecting to see me?
Wednesday 23rd - If you meant the 16th you should say "see you this Wednesday"
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Joseph41

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Re: A question about language
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2017, 07:51:05 pm »
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See, that's interesting, because in that situation, I'd definitely be expecting the 16th.

So like, if it were Saturday 5th and you decided to meet next week, which week would that refer to?
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Joseph41

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Re: A question about language
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2017, 08:58:45 am »
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Quote from: Joseph41 on April 10, 2017, 07:51:05 pm
See, that's interesting, because in that situation, I'd definitely be expecting the 16th.

So like, if it were Saturday 5th and you decided to meet next week, which week would that refer to?

And for context on this (a slightly different situation):

A few years ago, I organised via email chain to meet with one of my lecturers. It was a Saturday, and we agreed to meet "Wednesday next week". I rocked up four days later, but she was nowhere to be seen - then, she emailed me the following Wednesday asking where I was.

I well and truly learnt my lesson, but was I in the wrong, here (Brenden vehemently thinks so haha)?
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