My friend Patrick called me this morning, irate and needing clarification (well, needing confirmation that he was right to be irate). Someone at his work asked for a part to be available “next Monday.” He placed this request today, a Thursday. Patrick was convinced that he should have said “this Monday,” as in the next possible Monday, and that “next Monday” really means June 13, not June 6. He was kind of steamed about this, actually.

I’m afraid I had to disappoint him because I think that, when said on a Thursday, the phrase “next Monday” can mean “the next possible Monday” and technically means the same as “this Monday.”

But I can see where he would have some confusion. Why do we have two separate phrases for what is essentially the same idea? Now I’m wondering if the meaning of the phrase is dependent on the proximity to the date in question. In other words, if the client had asked for the part on May 30, last Monday, it would have made more sense to say “next Monday” instead of “this Monday” to avoid confusion. And I think “next Monday” would still have been a better phrasing if he had asked for the part on Tuesday. But the later in the week it got and the closer to the Monday in question, at some point it feels righter (shut up grammar people) to say “this Monday,” as in “the one that’s bearing down on us.”

I get calls like this from friends. Calls where I am needed to settle a word-based argument. And when it comes to issues like when to use “that” and when to use “who,” I’m all up on it. But this was one time that my answer was more, “Meh? Either way.” Quite dissatisfying.