Next Friday

April 8, 2008 at 4:41 pm · Filed under Roba

Aseel: “The marathon is next Friday (il jom3a il jay)”.
Ibrahim: “No it’s not, it’s on Friday, as in two days away (hay il jom3a).”
Aseel: “That’s what I meant. Next Friday as in the first Friday coming as in two days away.”
Ibrahim: “It doesn’t work that way you idiot.”
Aseel: “Yes it does.”
Roba: “No it doesn’t, Ibrahim is right.”
Aseel: “How’s he right? Y, what do you think?”
Y: “I think this is always confusing.”

After a few minutes spent asking people around the office, we realize that some people believe that next Friday is this coming Friday while the other proportionate half of people believe that next Friday is the one after this Friday.

Zaki: “So the equation is pretty simple, if the problematic day is within three days from the current day, then it is “this Friday”, but when it’s more than three days, it’s “next Friday.”
Aseel: “La2! Mahoweh lessa MA EJA. Bas yeeji beseer eshi tani. Bas howeh lessah ma eja!”

I still believe that ‘next Friday’ is next week as in not this week. What do you think?






  • http://belostwithmeineedcompany.blogspot.com Lost Within

    el jom3a el jay means next week to me but I always ask b4 I make any agreement coz I know people are confused about it !!

  • http://www.za3tar.net za3tar

    I agree with the equation.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/46722456N00/ Fika

    I am with you on this one.

    Funnily enough, just yesterday I was arguing with my friend on this too. I strongly believe that I am correct lol.

  • http://www.a-tale-of-three-beans.blogspot.com MommaBean

    Yeah, we Americans have this same on-going debate. The truth it means either one depending on with whom you are speaking. To be clear, if today is Wednesday and you want to talk about 2 days from now, you should say THIS Friday. And if you’re trying to talk about the Friday 9 days from now, you can say Friday-week (meaning a week from Friday). Otherwise just give the dates!

  • Farah

    I agree with Aseel

  • http://za3moot.wordpress.com/ yaseen

    As a programmer I strongly agree with Aseel and if I agree with Aseel that means Aseel is right.

  • http://TheSilkenTouch.blogspot.com/ ~~Silk

    My man and I confuse each other constantly with this. In my opinion, “this Friday” is the Friday of this week, which is also “[the] next Friday”. “Next” means “the next one”, doesn’t it? If you mean the Friday after next, then say that, or “Friday of next week.” Next means immediately subsequent. I guess the confusion is “subsequent to what?” Subsequent to today, or subsequent to “this” Friday?

    Ok. I wasn’t confused before, but I am now!

    I am also confused by “couple”. Some use it to mean “EXACTLY two” (so why not just say two? It’s shorter and clearer) and others mean “about two or so”, as opposed to “a few”, which can be a much larger number, depending on context. I think they confuse “couple” the verb with “couple” the noun. Or something….

  • http://arrabi.blogspot.com muhammad arrabi

    hal-jum3a means during this week. it doesn’t means specifically friday. Jom3ah means friday or a week. But when used with “hal jom3ah” it always means a week.

  • http://www.blogger-for-freedom.org/en Simon Columbus

    Next Friday is next Friday. The _next_ one.

    My little sister used to confuse this all the time. Horrible! You just can’t make plans with people who don’t know what “next” means ;-)

  • Amer

    GOOGLE IT! lol
    —————–

    next [nekst] adjective
    nearest in place, time etc
    Example: When you have called at that house, go on to the next one; The next person to arrive late will be sent away; Who is next on the list?

    next [nekst] adverb
    immediately after in place or time
    Example: John arrived first and Jane came next.

    If I were to draw a spreadsheet with Monday through Sunday on it and then point to Monday and ask: When is the next Tuesday? It would be correct and logical to point to the Tuesday “Next” to the Monday I am currently pointing to. If I said: “Next in Line” It would be the person immediately there and would not skip him/her. Why would we then expect to Skip the Tuesday we refer to as THIS Tuesday and think it is the one for the Following week when saying Next Tuesday. This is exemplified with the comment regarding the Next Exit. By missing the exit due to not understanding the meaning of NEXT makes it quite obvious that most people mis-interpret the NEXT (Day) when referring to it. Thus, unfortunately, it comes to the clarification of the date. We are forced to be redundant when speaking just to ensure we get the meaning across to the actual date we mean.

  • http://injis.wordpress.com Juka

    Hmm I’ve always felt next Friday implied that it was not the coming one. Otherwise we’d just say “this” Friday. Or if it’s already passed “last” Friday.

    Basically I agree with Ruba.

  • khalid jarrar

    i swear this post and debate is so Sienfeld material, no question about it.
    its an issue that every single one of us must have faced, and its too small to be discussed in books or cleared in any newspaper or tv program or school book, yet its confusing and causes trouble, believe me, this is what you have to do right now, email Jerry Sienfeld and sell it to him.

    loved the post:)

  • http://moeys.net Moey

    Aseel is right!

  • Stephen

    If its this friday this week then its this friday and if its friday next week then its next friday.

    I also hate when people say after tomorrow when they mean tomorrow!

  • http://linasturmoil.blogspot.com Lina

    It’s this friday, and I’m running ;)

  • http://www.american-in-jordan.com Dave

    I think you’re right. “Next” Friday is always the Friday after this coming Friday.

  • http://3ammania.blogspot.com/ MD

    Im an Aseel type, even though I know the worlds formal way is to use next when it is about the one after this one .
    I think this problem happens because it is much easier to calculate on a 7-days basis rather than on a 30-days basis. because it is much less-confusion when we say simply the date (11. April or 18. April). but NO, we are lazy to calculate it , we prefer to say its on next Friday, i mean Friday, this Friday. by the way I have another problem, when I say tonight, i mean last night :( .

  • http://7akifadi.com 7aki Fadi

    This is how I look at it:

    When we say next Firday then the “next” points to what? A Sunday, a Monday? no , it’s next to a Firday.

    So if today is Monday and I say next Friday, I mean not the coming Friday but the next one. So this Friday is the first Friday coming and Next Friday is the one after it.

    Simple, next Friday is always the Friday coming up next week or I would have said this Friday.

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