1764 This or Next?

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Me: "There is negative perfectionism and positive perfectionism. Negative perfectionism is based on a fear of inadequacy. Positive perfectionism strives for mastery."

------------------------------

The Man and I have run into the "this Friday"/"next Friday" interpretation problem, and we laugh about it. I was amused to find a blogger in Jordan (I think) addressing the same confusion. I guess it's a worldwide problem. Given the ramifications, perhaps it's the root of the current worldwide recession. I don't know how the world can do business when half the world thinks "next Friday" is "this Friday" (or not, I'm still confused).

Here's how it goes - if today is Tuesday, the 1st of the month, and I say we'll get together "this Friday", then almost everybody understands that I mean Friday, the 4th.

But if I say "next Friday", half the world thinks I mean Friday the 4th, and half thinks I mean Friday the 11th.

And everybody, no matter which way they go, has (what they see as) a perfectly logical reason for their position, and see no reason to change their opinion.

Those who interpret "next Friday" as the 4th argue that it's "the next Friday after today, that's what next means (you idiot)."

Those who interpret "next Friday" as the 11th argue that "If I meant this Friday, I'd have said this Friday (you idiot)."

Where The Man and I have run into the problem is when he says on Monday, "We'll go to Maryland next weekend", and I interpret that to mean the next weekend, and he means the weekend after next, because the next weekend in his mind is this weekend. But in this case, wouldn't "this weekend", meaning next weekend, sound odd? I don't know what the heck he'd call it on Sunday.

There's no way to write the above paragraph to make it make sense, and therein lies the problem.

I guess people figure if it's in this week, then it's "this", and if it's in next week, then it's "next".

It all came to the forefront today, when I sent The Man a note in which I mentioned the past Monday. "Past" is easy. But by the above this week/next week logic, isn't last Monday actually "this" Monday? And if this Friday isn't next Friday, what is the Monday after the coming weekend? Is it this Monday or next Monday?

The Man and I now use actual dates.

(Oh, and don't get me started on people who start saying "today" at midnight. Hey, it isn't "today" until after I've slept. Until I've slept, your today is my tomorrow! So if I say tomorrow at 5 minutes after midnight, I mean less than 24 hours from now!)
.