I failed to mention that I am sensitive to this topic because I grew up in North America, but have lived in Europe for 35 years now. I regularly have a miss communication with people here for just this reason…. So indeed I try to double check when someone says “next” .. I don’t think there is on answer for international use, so best to always confirm with a date when sharing with others.
On Monday, November 1, 2021 at 9:00:04 PM UTC+1 imajeff wrote: > Dwight now I'm confused because no post I see on this thread forgot to > specify that the parser should never assume a day already completed. They > say, "after today" and "future". > I think in the parser, "next" should not assume whether it should mean > next week or two from now, but there should be a quick way to say how many > Fridays from now. > > Still the most important thing is that I know what the language means to > the recipient, so I'll accept whatever if well documented. > I used to prefer that people not say "it will be next Friday" but "it will > be Friday next" because I would be sure they meant "next week" but that > feels wierd these days so I just try to say "this week" or "next week" if I > want them to be sure, or say just tell me the date. > > On Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 8:28:12 AM UTC-6 Dwight wrote: > >> Your proposed scenario with this week, next week works pretty well most >> of the time. But it's not perfect. If a Christian American, whose weeks >> start Sunday, says "this Sunday" when today is Saturday, common sense would >> parse it as "tomorrow" but your algorithm would yield "six days ago" >> >> I believe that "this" and "next" are inherently ambiguous. Avoiding >> ambiguity requires syntax like "this coming Sunday" >> >> On October 23, 2021 03:22:51 Grant <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Ah, good point. No, I am not totally comfortable with my PoV. I found >>> this good summary of the issue >>> https://englishlessonsbrighton.co.uk/this-next-day-week/. >>> >>> The best way to match with common usage would be for 'This' to refer to >>> days in the current week, and 'Next' to refer to days in the next week. >>> This would require MLO to also take note of which day a user starts their >>> week on (Sunday or Monday), or better yet, to separately ask the user when >>> they want their 'parsing week' to start (eg my work week start on Monday, >>> but my cultural week starts on Sunday - and this is likely to vary per >>> religion/culture/language). >>> >>> Alas, I suspect there where still be exceptions where someone would >>> complain. Thus, maybe it still is best to use 'next' for the next day in >>> the sequence, and to document that in the Help text. Then it works one >>> (most logical) way for everyone. >>> >>> In closing, I finally looked in the HELP file for how MLO implements >>> this, and they have chosen their own logical approach, which is consistent, >>> if also not fully adapted to actual usage: >>> Friday (nearest Friday in future) >>> next Friday (next Friday after nearest Friday in future) >>> >>> This I can live with, and I am sure its easier to program around ;-) >>> >>> -Grant >>> >>> On Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 1:11:26 PM UTC+2 Dwight wrote: >>> >>>> Just a question: the issue is simplest when discussing Mondays and gets >>>> tougher later in the week. On Thursday, your proposal would make "next >>>> Friday" synonymous with "tomorrow". Are you really comfortable with this? >>>> -Dwight >>>> >>>> On September 30, 2021 04:16:35 Stéph <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> I agree completely. >>>>> >>>>> On Thursday, 30 September 2021 at 08:22:32 UTC+1 Grant wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Just to see what others think....and maybe change someday in MLO... >>>>>> >>>>>> I find that using 'next Monday' does not parse to the coming Monday, >>>>>> but the one after the coming Monday. >>>>>> >>>>>> There is always a debate around the use of 'this' vs 'next' when >>>>>> referring dates, so there is no one answer. >>>>>> >>>>>> My PoV is that MLO should use the strict interpretation, and next >>>>>> should refer to the 'next in the order of things', eg 'next monday' >>>>>> means >>>>>> the one that occurs next, after today. All other interpretations are >>>>>> based >>>>>> on a regional, or cultural 'common use' interpretation of the English >>>>>> language and are prone to introducing confusion... >>>>>> >>>>>> What is your PoV? >>>>>> >>>>>> (have fun) >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/1ed788fd-9032-4057-a325-51122ed94cb8n%40googlegroups.com >>>>> >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/1ed788fd-9032-4057-a325-51122ed94cb8n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>> . >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/6ba5ff4b-273d-4086-bd70-883b3de03b1fn%40googlegroups.com >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/6ba5ff4b-273d-4086-bd70-883b3de03b1fn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. 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