"this" vs "next"

Suppose it is Tuesday Nov 4 and I tell you I have plans 'next weekend'. Would you interpret that as Nov 9 & 10, or Nov 16 & 17?

Now suppose it is Friday Nov 8 and I tell you 'it's scheduled this Wednesday'. Would you assume whatever 'it' is, already happened two days ago, or is going to happen on Wednesday the 13th? What if I told you "it's scheduled next Wednesday"? Would you mark your calendar for Nov 13 or the 20th?

Does how you interpret "this" or "next" depend on what day of the week it already is?

to me, "next" means "next." so whatever the upcoming weekend is, that's the next one. it can get tricky sometimes, because if it's Friday, and someone says "next weekend" they almost always mean the one after the immediate one, because they feel like Friday is part of the weekend.

i usually interpret "this" as "next" as well.

if i mean something that happened earlier in the week, i will say "this past Wednesday" or whatever.

the main thing is, if i have any confusion about what is meant I like to use this thing called "questions." This is a tool that helps me clarify intent and meaning from the person sending the message.

"this" is the next one to occur. "next" is the second one to occur. There are probably exceptions, but this is my starting point.

If on Monday, whether you say "this Friday" or "next Friday", you mean the one that is the next one that will occur, but "this Wednesay" and "next Wednesday" refer to the one about to happen and the one that will follow that, respectively.

You see, it matters how soon from the day it is until the day you mean as to whether or not the next one is a "this" or a "next".

If you are between 4 and 6 days away, this and next refer to the same day. From 2-3 days, use this for the first one and next for the one after that. If you are seven days away, then you shouldn't be using "this" at all, since that would be today, you schmuck. Next is the only one that applies in this case & if you need to refer to the one after that, it would be the "after next".

If you are within one day, "this" shouldn't even be used. It's tomorrow. Please get your terms straight.

Are you still paying attention? Because weekends follow a completely different rule set. They are not a day, but represent a time frame that includes from Friday at 5pm (local time) until Sunday at 2am (again, local time). The weekend as a whole can be referred to interchangeably as next or this up until 4:15pm (two time zones ahead however in this case), at which point this refers to the one that is pending and next will refer to the one that follows. This split is in place until 3pm GMT on Tuesday. Until that time, this weekend refers to the one currently in progress or just completed depending on whether or not it's after midnight on Sunday (back to local time here), and next is used for the one pending.

Come on people. This is science!!