Are they the same day?

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Guys, sorry to trouble you all again. I got great responses to my question on the number of quantity, for which I am still grateful. In this post, I have got two questions:

Look at the following expressions: (the) next Friday; the coming Friday; and the following Friday. Do they refer to the same day?

In Collins English Usage, it is stipulated that ‘the next Friday’ is not good English. According to the reference, we should say ‘the following Friday’. What do you guys think? Thanks.

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@shengliver,

Quote:

Look at the following expressions: (the) next Friday; the coming Friday; and the following Friday. Do they refer to the same day?

The "the" often implies a sort of remote or third-person usage, as in, "The next friday, Bill kept the children home."

Plain "next Friday" technically means its upcoming occurrence. However, Sheng, I've often heard it used to mean the Friday after, especially when expressed, say, on Thursday or even Wednesday

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/36419/next-friday-vs-this-friday

Where you mean the upcoming Friday usually you'd say simply, "Friday I'm getting a haircut"

Quote:

In Collins English Usage, it is stipulated that ‘the next Friday’ is not good English.

In a perfectly technical sense it's perfectly good English, eg, where you're speaking of a Friday immediately succeeding some specific Friday. "On Friday September 14 he shot his father. The next Friday he was arrested…."

Quote:

According to the reference, we should say ‘the following Friday’. What do you guys think? Thanks.

Yes, there's less chance of the confusion as I've indicated

Now, finally, "the coming Friday" somehow grates. Let us hope (technically, I cannot say "hopefully") that S., JTT, or some other knowledgeable tech will clarify

It's a tough language, Liver, and you're to be congratulated for your interest and determination

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They all mean the same thing so long as the reference point is a Saturday, or later. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using "next Friday."

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@Setanta,

Sheng I have to respectfully disagree here with S., who is usually right on the money. As I had said, in the purely "technical" sense he's right and indeed, when I placed the q before my Better Half, who usu is much smarter than I, she agreed with S.

However I' I've often heard the term to mean "Friday after this upcoming one". Quick access to Google with the very first hit linked above appears to bolster my recollection

Now S., a link is a sort of Internet address, usu underlined and in color, and clicking upon it, that's using the left-click cover

http://aprilrcooper.com/pdf/techdesc.pdf

…...yields the referenced document containing the pertinent comment

Incidentally a right-click may also be employed to the same end but the move requires subsequent actions not immediately obvious to the uninitiated

Forgive me S., again just couldn't resist; but you fellas leave yourselves so very wide-open

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@dalehileman,

After S.'s response and not entirely sure of my remaining wits, I presented the q to my No. 2 Son: "Yo No. 2: Is it my advanced age or haven't you heard "next Friday" to mean the Friday after the upcoming one," whereupon he replied, "I have. There's a 50/50 chance that when you say "next Friday" the person you are talking to will be correct in guessing which Friday you actually mean"

So there are 3 of us anyhow and many more if my No. 2 Son and I accurately recall

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Uh-huh . . . so if you ask someone on Saturday, when they are going to the lake, and they say "next Friday," you think they mean in 13 days time. Good luck with that.

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@shengliver,

Quote:

Look at the following expressions: (the) next Friday; the coming Friday; and the following Friday. Do they refer to the same day?

It's awfully difficult to state categorically without their being some context. The five most important things in determining language use are CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT, and finally, CONTEXT.

Quote:

In Collins English Usage, it is stipulated that ‘the next Friday’ is not good English. According to the reference, we should say ‘the following Friday’. What do you guys think? Thanks.

I suspect that Collins said what they said because 'the' is not normally used with the usual phrase, 'next [day of the week]

I'm going to a baseball game next Sunday.

??I'm going to a baseball game the next Sunday.??

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@Setanta,

Quote:

Uh-huh . . . so if you ask someone on Saturday, when they are going to the lake, and they say "next Friday," you think they mean in 13 days time. Good luck with that.

Yes, of course, S. scores once again. As I said in #….613 above, "I've often heard it used to mean the Friday after, especially when expressed, say, on Thursday or even Wednesday," the implication being that an earlier day is less likely to elicit the same misunderstanding; thus less likely on the immediate Tuesday; and even less so, as S. points out so forcefully, on Sunday. I just don't know what we'd do without him

Again S. my most abject apologies, but so oft your postings just beg for it

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@dalehileman,

Dipshit.

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@Setanta,

Quote:

Look at the following expressions: (the) next Friday; the coming Friday; and the following Friday. Do they refer to the same day?

Setanta:

Quote:

They all mean the same thing so long as the reference point is a Saturday, or later.

This is bad advice.

If it's Friday and I say "next Friday" it means one week hence.

"the next Friday" is used in this manner:

A: Are you going to Shanghai this Friday?

B: No, I'm going the next Friday/the following Friday/the Friday after next.

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Are they the same day?

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