I have a Polish guest in my house, and she has been asking me about the 
difference between 'this weekend' and 'next weekend'. Midweek, she would 
expect 'this weekend' to refer to the coming weekend, and 'next weekend' 
to the one after. In my opinion, they both refer to the coming weekend, 
which seems illogical, and if you want to refer to the weekend after the 
coming weekend, you should say 'the weekend after next'. I suppose this 
is just another example of English being confusing.

-- 
Simon Rayner

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:26:59 +0100, Simon Rayner
 wrote:

>I have a Polish guest in my house, and she has been asking me about the 
>difference between 'this weekend' and 'next weekend'. Midweek, she would 
>expect 'this weekend' to refer to the coming weekend, and 'next weekend' 
>to the one after. In my opinion, they both refer to the coming weekend, 
>which seems illogical, and if you want to refer to the weekend after the 
>coming weekend, you should say 'the weekend after next'. I suppose this 
>is just another example of English being confusing.

Yes.

People vary in their usage of these phrases.

-- 
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in uk.culture.language.english)

Simon Rayner wrote:
> I have a Polish guest in my house, and she has been asking me about the 
> difference between 'this weekend' and 'next weekend'. Midweek, she would 
> expect 'this weekend' to refer to the coming weekend, and 'next weekend' 
> to the one after. In my opinion, they both refer to the coming weekend, 
> which seems illogical, and if you want to refer to the weekend after the 
> coming weekend, you should say 'the weekend after next'. I suppose this 
> is just another example of English being confusing.


For reference, I was brought up (Eastern England) with the same understanding as 
your Polish guest, a usage that I have never found the need to change for want 
of understanding with English speakers from an assortment of places.

I have however met one person whose usage is the same as yours, and it confuses 
me (-:


-- 
Blue Sow.

In article <46f8003a$0$8427$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk>,
 Blue Sow  writes:
>Simon Rayner wrote:
>> I have a Polish guest in my house, and she has been asking me about
>>the  difference between 'this weekend' and 'next weekend'. Midweek,
>>she would  expect 'this weekend' to refer to the coming weekend, and
>>'next weekend'  to the one after. In my opinion, they both refer to
>>the coming weekend,  which seems illogical, and if you want to refer
>>to the weekend after the  coming weekend, you should say 'the weekend
>>after next'. I suppose this  is just another example of English being
>>confusing.
>
>
>For reference, I was brought up (Eastern England) with the same
>understanding as your Polish guest, a usage that I have never found the
>need to change for want of understanding with English speakers from an
>assortment of places.
>
>I have however met one person whose usage is the same as yours, and it
>confuses me (-:
>
>
You now "met" another, i.e. me.
-- 
John Hall
             "Honest criticism is hard to take,
               particularly from a relative, a friend,
               an acquaintance, or a stranger."        Franklin P Jones