Dueling dialects

[Wilson Gray]

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 12:22 PM, Alison Murie<sagehen7470 at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Dueling dialects
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jul 29, 2009, at 12:22 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Dueling dialects
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> "Seinfeld" rerun: Seinfeld(S) is conversating with a black
>> neighbor(B):
>>
>> B. I'm going back home to Virginia next Wednesday.
>>
>> S. This week?
>>
>> B. Naw. A week from Wednesday.
>>
>> S. You said "next Wednesday." This is Monday. "Next Wednesday" is the
>> day after tomorrow.
>>
>> B. If I'd-a meant Wednesday of *this* week, I'd-a said "*this*
>> Wednesday"!
>>
>>
>> What B says works for me. In BE, we can also say, "this coming
>> Wednesday" to mean "the nearest Wednesday in time," if it's far enough
>> in the future, e.g. on Thursday of week 1, I'm referring to Wednesday
>> of week 2. In Texas, people also say "Wednesday week." Unfortunately,
>> I'm so accustomed to hearing this last from my Texas relatives,
>> though, for no particular reason, I don't use it myself, hearing it
>> someplace else wouldn't catch my attention, because it's too "normal."
>> --
>> -Wilson
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> I have a similar problem with "last" to refer to something quite
> recently past; as in "[Sthg] happened last March" meaning March 2009.
> This means last year to me.  I'd say "this past March."
> I don't have a hard & fast rule for this, but am frequently puzzled by
> other's usage.
> AM
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

Exactly the same for me, Alison! You sure you never lived in East Texas? :-)
--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org