Well indeed the context is always key to understanding, but the point I intended was rather I find it unlikely someone in December would say ‘this November’ when referring to the November of the following year. Not so much as a matter of how we would understand it but as to how it’s likely to be used/thought of.

“in December 25 ‘this November’ would still seem to refer to 11/25, but in January I think you’d be looking forward…”

When combining the use of THIS and tense, there is no confusion. If in December of 25 you say that you WENT fishing this November, it’s clear that it was a month ago. On the same day in December, if you say that you WANT to go fishing this November, it’s also clear that you mean that you want to go fishing in 11 months.

And once we accept that those two Novembers are referred to with THIS (short for this past or this coming, depending upon the tense), it’s easy to know that in December of 25, the previous past tense November of 24 is called LAST November, and the following future tense November of 26 is called NEXT November.

Phew! That was a mouthful.

Very good point! And within November there’d be no confusion. Though I wonder if there is a threshold after the month – in December 25 ‘this November’ would still seem to refer to 11/25, but in January I think you’d be looking forward…

Interestingly, it’s not so confusing when you put it in terms of months/years. So “this November” vs “next November”. Writing this in May of 2025, it’s pretty clear that this November means 11/25 and next November means 11/26

That doesn’t quite work. You need the rolling week for 2 reasons. One, you won’t get that consensus on the first day of the week. And two, even if people agree that Monday begins a new week, there’s no way that on a Saturday night, people will refer to 26 hours later as next Monday. Next has to be the one after this one. And in your scenario, this Monday will have been 5 days past. Nobody is thinking that the next one after this one is 7 days after 5 days ago.

We definitely need tense to locate THIS. Then NEXT and LAST simply become the ones after and before the located THIS.

My understanding, and my logic leans towards James’. I agree that a week is Monday to Sunday. The weekend is Saturday and Sunday. How can Sunday be part of the weekend and also the beginning of the week? The beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega? The Lords day. I’ve never considered a rolling week, that seems like a messy way to think about it. The way I think about communicating LAST, THIS, and NEXT days of a week are as follows:

LAST refers to any day of the previous Monday to Sunday week.

THIS refers to any day of the current Monday to Sunday week, therefore I would use THIS for a
day in the current week that has already passed. (e.g. THIS Monday was very windy)

NEXT refers to any day of the following Monday to Sunday week.

This way you are able to reference any day in the previous, current, and following three week time frame. You are referencing days within a week. Having consensus on what constitutes a week is important.

An analogy would be referencing time of day:

In the afternoon I would reference the morning as THIS morning was, not LAST morning was. As well, THIS evening will be, not NEXT evening will be.

Cheers!

Specify the time and or date/day.

Last week: the week preceding the current week
This week: the current week
Next week the following week

If you can best to say Day of the week

Client said they want to arrange e an appointment Monday or Tuesday next week

On Sunday he asked “‘Will you free on Monday or Tuesday next week?”

Whilst I understood what he meant it can be confusing.

He would have been better saying

“Are you free next Monday or Tuesday?”
Or
“Are you available this Monday or Tuesday?” Sometimes it is better to not use next week. Unless you are referring to the following week. It becomes even more confusing when the reader reads the question the following day.

Hi. The issue with the use of this you describe, is that technically, ‘this week’ then encompasses a time equivalent of 13 days…. Which is Much more than a week.

I have to say that I agree with the comment that questions which is “this” when mentioning a day of the week.

If you say this week, this month or this year it’s the one you are currently in. Because the day mentioned is not the current one (i.e. it’s not today) it’s not clear to everyone what this or next means as there is no current day and consequently no context.

Yes, common usage in SOME places is that “this Thursday” is the next occurring Thursday but it’s not in others where the next occurring Thursday is “next Thursday”.

English has many different lazy usages (such as boil the kettle when it means boil the water in the kettle) and this is one of them. Different people have different understanding of the meaning and personally I use a date to include the week (this week Thursday or next week Thursday) just to make sure I’m understood.

Aaron,
I didn’t say that THIS is defined as between last and next. But both last and next are immediately before and after the current one, and that we can refer to the current as THIS. And there is no reason to be confused about which one is THIS, because there is always tense to provide context. When you say that your parents are coming to visit this weekend, there’s no need for anyone to be confused about which weekend you’re referring. No need at all.