1060
xkcd #3232: Countdown Standard
(imgs.xkcd.com)
xkcd #3232: Countdown Standard
Title text:
Anyone who is caught counting 'three ... two ... one ... zero ... GO!' will be punished with a lifetime of eating only ISO standard food samples.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3232/
"This thursday" is the thursday on this current week. It might be in the future or in the past, which will be obvious from the context.
"Next thursday" is the thursday on the next week after this current one.
"Last thursday" is the thursday on the last week before this one.
In Norwegian we operate with "førstkommende" which translates more or less directly to "first-coming". It's extremely practical when planning dates, because you can always just say "Not the first-coming Thursday, but next Thursday", or "On the first-coming Thursday", and it's completely unambiguous that you mean the first Thursday we encounter from the moment of speaking.
Very nice.
This Thursday is already in the future. It has no meaning of you say it on a Friday. Then it’s ”this Thursday coming“ or just “Thursday coming”
At least here in the UK that’s the only way I’ve ever heard it used
I'm from the UK too and I've definitely heard things like:
"Yeah, I saw her this thursday"
If you used 'last thursday' in that case it would still obviously be understood, so I'm not sure it really matters. The importqnt distinction is between 'this' and 'next' thursday.