Today, a wednesday, I got an email from a friend saying "let's get
together next weekend". I wrote back asking if she was referring to
this coming weekend, or the weekend following.

What is the proper meaning of the phrase "next weekend", if spoken on
a non-weekend day?

Hello alfish-ga,

I hope that you will not see this as avoiding the question, but my
impression after doing some reading on the subject is that the meaning
of "next weekend" depends on the context.

For example, consider the sentence, "Let's get together this weekend,
and then next weekend let's meet again."  In this context, it is
apparent that "this weekend" refers to the end of the current week,
while "next weekend" means the end of the following week.

By contrast, "Let's get together next weekend", by itself, might be
interpreted differently at various times of the week.  It could be
construed to mean the end of the current week if said on a Monday, but
probably could not be so construed if said on a Friday.  To my mind,
when said on a Wednesday it refers to the end of the following week;
but for you, and presumably for some other people as well, it is
ambiguous.

The discussions also suggest that the meaning may further depend on
the country or even the age of the speaker as well as the listener.

If there is a rule, it appears that "this weekend", when said on a
non-weekend day, refers to the end of the current week, while "next
weekend", when said on a non-weekend day, refers to the end of the
following week.  However, I think the best rule is to avoid use of
these phrases, unless there is no reasonable likelihood of confusion,
and instead to say something like "this coming weekend" and "the
weekend following this coming weekend".

Here are the considerations of these phrases upon which I have relied:

"Sez You . . ." [third group of comments] (Issue 109, January 16,
2000)
Take Our Word For It
http://www.takeourword.com/Issue109.html#Sez%20You...

"Curmudgeon's Corner" (Issue 108, December 12, 2000)
Take Our Word For It
http://www.takeourword.com/Issue108.html#Curmudgeon's%20Corner

"This weekend/Next weekend", thread in <alt.english.usage> (Jun 20,
1999)
Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=376CADF4.FDAD01FB%40bigpond.com

"'This' v 'next' weekend.", thread in <alt.usage.english> (Sep 29,
1998) [messages 1-3]
Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=361149d6.6340668%40news.dynamite.com.au

"'This' weekend vs. 'Next' weekend", thread in <alt.usage.english>
(Jul 26 - Aug 2, 1992)
Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=oeQibGu00awAQ6jEwK%40andrew.cmu.edu

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga


I used the following search terms, in various combinations, on Google:

"this weekend"
"next weekend"
semantics
usage
grammar

I've helped a journalist friend clarify it this way:

This weekend = This week's end
Next weekend = Next week's end

GIVEN:
week = Monday 12am to Saturday 12am
weekend = everything else

YOU CAN THEN INFER:
During the week, "This weekend" starts the following Saturday.
During the weekend, "This weekend" is currently in progress.
During the week, "Next weekend" starts on the second Saturday.
During the weekend, "Next weekend" starts on the following Saturday.

This seems to be largely congruent with common usage, in addition to
providing a logical consistency.  However, while "This weekend" is
almost never ambiguous, there is a much greater chance of
misconstruing the phrase "Next weekend".  As justaskscott-ga suggests,
it is better to seek more precise communication when you are uncertain
whether all parties are operating under the same linguistic
conventions.