"the next next X" (long)

[Mai Kuha]

Yesterday a student mentioned that she uses the expression "next next
Friday" to refer to Friday two weeks from today--a handy solution instead of
the ambiguous "next Friday" (which we have already discussed).

I went googling and got 7650 hits on "the next next".

All kinds of punctuation choices came up--maybe they tell us something about
the writers' views of the internal structures of these NPs:

the next next X

the "next next" X
the "next-next" X
the next-next X

the next next-X
the next "next X"
the next, "next X"
the next, next X
the NEXT next X
the "next" next X

"Next next" co-occurs with time expressions:
"the next next Monday / day / year..."    840 hits

...but it turns out to have other uses too:

"the next next big thing"  870
"the next next thing"  315
"the next next generation"    780
"the next next level " 148

There were fewer than 25 hits each for "the next next" followed by...
"step, release, version, wave, scene, book, war, election, guy, room, show,
killer app"

...and 16 hits total in expressions involving people:
"the next next president/Karate Kid/Michael Jordan/Joe Millionaire/Heinlein"

Maybe there is something interesting to be said about the presuppositions
involved in using one of these nouns to complete the expressions, especially
"the next next war".

Here are some examples in context. Often "next next" is contrasted with a
previous use of "next", but sometimes not.

"I will be on duty next monday, so I will attend on the next next monday..."

"... getting crunked up lately.. haha its funny. haha and were gonna do it
friday and the next friday after that haha maybe the next next friday!!.
..."

"... When I called the next day, they said that they wouldn't know until the
NEXT next day and that even if it did come in, I would have to wait another
five days ..."

"... year and want to increase the amount every year at annual rate of 5
percent, you will invest 2100 dollars next year, 2205 dollars in the next
next year, and so ..."

"... It would not affect this cycle, but would go into effect at the next,
next election." Senator Chrzanowski stated that this sounds like a good
idea. ..."

"... and performs for its entirety on the piano. Is this the next "next
step" for him? He laughs and downplays the notion, explaining ..."

-Mai