The site proposes a single rule: if the target Friday is beyond seven days from today (inclusive), it’s “next Friday” – otherwise it’s “this Friday.”
Key Takeaways
Core rule: count seven days forward from today inclusive; any Friday outside that window is “next Friday.”
On Saturday, the upcoming Friday flips from “next” to “this Friday” under this system.
Practical fix: skip relative terms entirely and use a calendar date like “Friday, the 28th of February.”
The same seven-day rule applies to any other day of the week – substitute Friday with the target day.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters broadly reject the site’s rule as non-obvious; the simpler competing definition is “next Friday = first Friday after today,” which diverges from the article on Saturdays and Sundays.
Regional and cultural variance is real – at least one commenter notes their adopted country uses a different system, making the term genuinely ambiguous rather than merely misunderstood.
Near-universal practical consensus: use a specific date to avoid the ambiguity entirely, regardless of which rule you prefer.
Notable Comments
@tromp: “A simple rule would be: next Friday is the first Friday after today” – directly contradicts the article’s seven-day framing.
