xkcd #3232: Countdown Standard
Title text:
Anyone who is caught counting ‘three … two … one … zero … GO!’ will be punished with a lifetime of eating only ISO standard food samples.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3232/
Internal consistency test:
It’s May 2024. You’re talking about February 2025. Given the choice only between “This February” and “Next February”, which do you call it?
Edit: In fairness, I realize I fail this consistency test too. If, in January 2024, someone said “Next February”, I’d assume they’re referring to February 2025, since I would only ever say “this February” to refer to February 2024 to avoid confusion (even though February 2024 technically is “next February”). Urgh, my brain. “You’re making me think about this way more than I ever have. Come with me!”
I think scale matters. A year is quite a lot longer than a week or two. It’s easy to consider both the next Thursday you’re going to encounter and the one after that as subjectively “soon”. The same can not be said of a month at least nine months away.
I would agree that your ruleset works on a longer timescale, but not on a shorter one. There’s too much ambiguity and crossover for it to work properly. Having exclusivity in definition allows for better communication, especially for something much more personal like something sooner rather than later.
You’re right, after some further thought I forgot one rule that I use. Will edit to fix this.
To answer your question, the February that had recently passed would just be “February” until later in the year (likely when February 2025 would be closer or similar distance to the past one) it would shift to “last February” or “back in February”. It would be “next February” until the end of the year, then “this February” once into the new year.
I think you misread my comment. February 2025 from the perspective of May 2024 is not “last Thursday” by any definition.
Sorry, it being 2026 now was making be constantly think of 2025 in the past instead of the “future”