• folekaule@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22·
    24 hours ago

    There is a rule but it’s not really well known so people just follow whatever rule they deduced from usage. People have to qualify which one they mean almost every time. I usually say “this coming Thursday” (this week), or “Thursday next week” instead.

    • tyler@programming.devEnglish
      10·
      20 hours ago

      The rule makes perfect sense (and is how I’ve always used it), but this article actually misses a major point which I just learned last week when talking to some native Spanish speakers. In most English speaking countries, the week starts on Sunday. This isn’t the case for many, many other countries though. So saying “this Friday” on a Sunday really really confuses people. That’s exactly what happened to me last week because it was a Sunday and we were talking about a Friday and she got very very confused.

      • SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.orgEnglish
        6·
        17 hours ago

        Starting the week on Sunday makes zero sense. Where does that even come from? Obviously Monday is the start of the week and everyone hates it for it.

      • Threeme2189@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        16 hours ago

        The day of the week shouldn’t matter, it’s either the Sunday that is coming up next or the one exactly a week after it. “This Sunday” should be the upcoming one and “Next Sunday” should be the one after. Doesn’t matter if it’s this week, next week or in two weeks.

      • folekaule@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        20 hours ago

        Excellent point. Same for most European countries, I think.

        Another date confusion things is weeks. Europeans use week numbers a lot (“I’m on vacation weeks 34-37”) but that’s very rare in the US. And the week numbers aren’t (always) the same anyway. In the US we use “I’m on vacation the week of <date>”, which honestly is a lot easier to understand without referencing a calendar.

    • MalReynolds@slrpnk.netEnglish
      3·
      18 hours ago

      I find Thursday (for this week) and Thursday next (for next week) adequate and am seldom called on for clarification, seems to follow the pattern of the rule (thanks for that) but is more economical.

    • Deebster@infosec.pubEnglish
      2·
      19 hours ago

      Another problem is that system requires agreeing on what a week is, and there’s disagreement over if Sunday starts or ends the week.