# The creation of a new word to fill a gap in our language  oxt



## Josiah (Feb 3, 2015)

What does the phrase "next weekend" mean to you?
According to its definition, it should mean the the nearest or most immediate weekend.
But the nearest weekend is often called "this weekend," leading some people to assume that by saying "next weekend," you might actually mean the weekend after this coming one.
Many people find themselves using a wordy, awkward phrase to try to clear up this ambiguity: "not this weekend but the weekend after."
Luckily, some people on the internet (specifically, Ivan Cash and Jeremy Knight) have come up with a succinct, elegant word to use instead: _oxt__._
*The beauty of oxt*

_The idea is simple. Instead of asking your friend "do you want to get tacos next weekend?" — to which he or she might reply, "do you mean this weekend, or the one after?" — you can simply ask "do you want to get tacos oxt weekend?" (pronounced something like "oxed.")_
_"Oxt weekend," in other words, means "not this coming weekend but the one after." "This weekend" still means this weekend. The ambiguous term "next weekend" can be disregarded entirely._
_The fine folks who coined oxt weekend also put together a handy interactive to clarify the term's definition in calendar form.

_


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## Rob (Feb 4, 2015)

This reminds me (and I don't know why) of the Cornish system of giving directions, which seems to be based on the compass points ...


If, for instance you are in St Buryan, West Cornwall and you want to get to ... 


Lamorna Cove which is south, then it's "Down Lamorna"


To Land's End, to the west', it's "Out Land's End"


To St Ives, north, it's "Up St Ives"


To Helston, east, it's "Back 'elston"


Anywhere else within a mile or so, say Penzance, it's "Over Penzance"


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## Falcon (Feb 4, 2015)

Even THAT is complicated.  Why not say (for example): "How about tacos on Saturday, the 15th ?"


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## Josiah (Feb 4, 2015)

Your solution works although a lot of people don't know off the top of their head the calendar date of a Saturday 9 days hence. I can see the the legitimate need for the word but I'm not sure it will catch on because the situation where its used occurs so infrequently. And I'm not exactly thrilled with the word itself, although I'm sure there's and interesting backstory to its choice.


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## SifuPhil (Feb 4, 2015)

It smells to me like a solution from the texting world. 

To me it's simple - "this weekend" or "next weekend". It's all going to depend upon which day you utter the phrase. It's called "context". Maybe people just aren't capable of figuring out the context anymore. They need everything spelled out for them.

Sometimes the search for simplification can actually make things much more complex.


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## oakapple (Feb 6, 2015)

I have to admit, this once caused problems for me when going to stay with a relative once for the week-end. I had said on the phone 'next week-end' meaning the one AFTER the coming week-end[or I would have said THIS week-end.] This particular person thought I was coming to stay a few days later  and was not amused when I wasn't there for dinner in the evening because of this confusion.They thought it was the 'correct' use of the week-end,[that they had used] and my use of the word wasn't. Either way, it made them pretty annoyed. I have never made that mistake again!


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