Barbara's Random Thoughts

I am rather passionate about my definition of "this weekend" vs. "next weekend." "This weekend" always means the weekend which is currently approaching, and "next weekend" always means the one after that. It seems simple to me. What else would "this weekend" mean, but this coming weekend? But I have had lengthy debates on the topic with friends who are convinced that "next weekend" means THE next occurring weekend, resulting in masses of confusion when we try to get together "next weekend."

I had a brief run-in with the topic today, when I referred to "this weekend", meaning the weekend beginning with Friday, April 22nd, and was questioned on the grounds that today was technically still part of "this weekend," since "this weekend" was not yet over. This is a side of the question I had not considered. Then this afternoon I wandered on over to defective yeti and discovered a consideration of the same semantic question. It's so nice to know that other people are picky enough to think about these things...