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From: Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Next ambiguity
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2024 18:11:55 +0200
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I'm wondering how common ambiguity in the word "next" is. My first 
wife, when I was driving and she was giving directions, would say, for 
example, "take the next right", which we would understand differently; 
for me the next right would mean right at the intersection we are just 
coming to. For her it meant the one after it. There was a similar 
ambiguity for weeks. If I say "next week" I mean the week that starts 
tomorrow, Monday 22nd July: for her it would mean the week that starts 
on the 29th.

In case it's relevant, I mention that my ex-wife is from California, 
one of the few native adult Californians that I ever came across when I 
lived in California.


-- 
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly 
in England until 1987.