tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post112248121326111122..comments2024-03-15T21:43:52.652-05:00Comments on City in the Trees: What's next?Lone Primatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15746801663695992138noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-1127695347115475842005-09-25T19:42:00.000-05:002005-09-25T19:42:00.000-05:00And for the record the next potato chip is not the...<I>And for the record the next potato chip is not the one I'm eating currently, but the one that I pull from the bag immediately following. Thus making it the next potato chip. ; )</I><BR/><BR/>There you go, vindication. Took months, but I have it. :)<BR/><BR/>The posting was prompted by a misunderstanding the usage prompted in arranging time to explore one of the river valleys with a friend of mine who was way into that kind of thing when he was a younger man. Frankly, I think he was using it as a hedge, but it prompted my little screed. Now the world knows where I stand on the word "next".<BR/><BR/>Next topic, please? :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-1127691501248543982005-09-25T18:38:00.000-05:002005-09-25T18:38:00.000-05:00Since the blog email doesn't tell which post I'm g...<B>Since the blog email doesn't tell which post I'm going to start making a note when it's so far back like this one. Anyway, this is in regard to the "What's next?" post.</B><BR/><BR/>Oooooo, I am laughing so hard! This post is too funny, though I'm guessing it wasn't funny to you at the time of the writing. And this guy James' comment -- well, that just made me laugh more. <BR/><BR/>And for the record the next potato chip is not the one I'm eating currently, but the one that I pull from the bag immediately following. Thus making it the next potato chip. ; )katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10093099038108888531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-1122486694986021442005-07-27T12:51:00.000-05:002005-07-27T12:51:00.000-05:00Ah, but it's not that simple...Next year is 2006, ...Ah, but it's not that simple...<BR/><BR/>Next year is 2006, because we're *in* 2005; next week is the week of the 31st, because we're *in* the week of the 24th.<BR/><BR/>But what's next weekend when we aren't *in* a weekend? Usage varies. If "this weekend" means the weekend just past on Monday & Tuesday and the coming weekend on Wed-Fri, then shouldn't "next weekend" means the coming weekend on Monday & Tuesday and the one after that on Wed-Fri?<BR/><BR/>It's not just weekends -- any situation involving some X that you aren't actually in can lead to confusion about what "this X" and "the next X" is. Is "this X" the last one or the coming one? It's the joy of English, one of the greatest sources of ambiguity in human communication today. :)<BR/><BR/>I try to avoid it by only using "next weekend" during a weekend, and "the coming weekend" during the week.James Redekophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05833355144832388008noreply@blogger.com