Board 8 > What does "next Monday" mean to you?

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Even though I think "next Monday" just means the upcoming Monday (because it is the next Monday to happen), I try to avoid using that word to avoid confusion.

It makes more sense if you're referring to a day that happens "next week". If it's Monday, and you are referring to the Thursday of the same week as "next Thursday", it doesn't sound right. If it's Friday, and you're referring to Wednesday of the upcoming week as "next Wednesday", then I think most people would assume 5 days from now.

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Depends on what day it is.

If it's like, Saturday, saying "next Monday" could cause confusion.

If it's like, Tuesday, saying "next Monday" is probably going to be pretty understood.

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MajinZidane posted...

Why would you even say "next" if you meant the upcoming Monday two days from now? You can just say Monday.

"I was going to go out to the mall Monday but something came up"

You have no idea if this means last monday or next monday without the word next in there.

Like people are making this more confusing than it needs to be. This is a basic English language question. Next means next. It doesn't mean next unless for some weird cases that i think make my argument more solid.

If there was 3 people in line and one person that just finished being checked out and I said "next in line" would you assume its the next person in line or the one after him?

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If "This Monday" already happened (i.e. it is currently after Monday in the current week), then "Next Monday" is the next Monday.


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Today is Sunday.

If someone were to say, the meeting is next Monday, I would think it was the following Monday. They should really say, the meeting is on Monday, or the meeting is this Monday, or the meeting is tomorrow.

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Colegreen_c12 posted...

You have no idea if this means last monday or next monday without the word next in there.

This is not even remotely the same thing. The OP question is about a future event we know is a future event.

Colegreen_c12 posted...

"I was going to go out to the mall Monday but something came up"

You have no idea if this means last monday or next monday without the word next in there.

Like people are making this more confusing than it needs to be. This is a basic English language question. Next means next. It doesn't mean next unless for some weird cases that i think make my argument more solid.

If there was 3 people in line and one person that just finished being checked out and I said "next in line" would you assume its the next person in line or the one after him?

I mean I think we're almost all in agreement that if it's like Saturday or Sunday, you're not going to say "next Monday" if you mean the one in one or two days, so it's clearly not as simple as you think.

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If an event is more than 7 days in the future you give the actual date when talking about it.

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This Monday is much different from next Monday.

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guffguy89 posted...

Today is Sunday.

If someone were to say, the meeting is next Monday, I would think it was the following Monday. They should really say, the meeting is on Monday, or the meeting is this Monday, or the meeting is tomorrow.

I think in this situation, people are always going to say "tomorrow". Whenever "tomorrow" applies, it would seem weird to say anything else.

When I'm making plans with someone, I usually just say "I'm available on Wednesday" if the current day is Monday of the same week. Or, I'll say "next week I'm available on Wednesday" if it's Friday of the prior week, for example.


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StealThisSheen posted...

I mean I think we're almost all in agreement that if it's like Saturday or Sunday, you're not going to say "next Monday" if you mean the one in one or two days, so it's clearly not as simple as you think.

if it was saturday I would say Monday, but if someone else said next Monday I would assume they meant two days from now because thats how the English language works but I would probably clarify.

If it's Sunday I would say tommorow or "a week for tommorow". using "next monday" to represent 8 days away is like the worst way to communicate because you assume the other party has the same thoughts on butchering english as you. If someone said it was me i would 100% get them to clarify what they meant because I would probably assume they lost track of what day it was before that they meant 8 days from now.

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Butchering the english language is a super common thing so yeah it's pretty safe to assume people butcher it often

It'd be weirder to assume they lost track of the day than to assume they mean 8 days from now for "Next Monday" on a Saturday.

Obviously asking for clarification is smart but assuming "They don't know what day it is" before assuming "They're not using english 100% correctly" is kinda weird.

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basic english lesson: everything is ambiguous and relies on context

language doesn't simply "work", it's a social construct bent and evolved by social beings

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StealThisSheen posted...

Butchering the english language is a super common thing so yeah it's pretty safe to assume people butcher it often

It'd be weirder to assume they lost track of the day than to assume they mean 8 days from now for "Next Monday" on a Saturday.

Obviously asking for clarification is smart but assuming "They don't know what day it is" before assuming "They're not using english 100% correctly" is kinda weird.

Assuming you meant Sunday and not Saturday I disagree. I can tell you that the people I know are more likely to lost track of time then say something ambiguous like that in the first place.

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Like I don't know if this is a regional thing but I have legitimately never heard someone use "next" to describe something that is not the occurrence of something

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Johnbobb posted...

If the day is Sunday, I'll assume 8 days away.
If the day is Thursday or earlier, I'll assume <7
If the day is Friday/Saturday, I'll ask to clarify

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