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If somebody says 'Next December I'm gonna do something', and we have, let's say, April of 2016, does he mean December of 2016 or December of 2017?

koto
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    Typically when referring to December 2016 we would say "This December", so December 2017 would be referred to as "Next December". Having said that, this is frequently quite an ambiguity in English - especially for saying next Monday, etc. But consider "next year" - this would definitely refer to 2017. – Inazuma Apr 02 '16 at 12:38
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    @Inazuma that's exactly correct. I propose you put that as an answer. – Charl E Apr 02 '16 at 12:41
  • You don't know. Despite what is claimed, people are about as likely to say "next December" as "this December" when referring to December 2016 in April of that year. As December grows closer the usage frequency changes, but even on November 30th you can't be sure. – Hot Licks Apr 02 '16 at 12:44
  • See the long repeated list of almost identical questions in the 'related' list on the right. – Mitch Apr 02 '16 at 13:01
  • Due to the opinionated like nature of this question (and all the other duplicates), it is probably best if this gets closed. – Inazuma Apr 02 '16 at 13:03
  • If you want to be sure which December he means by "next December", you have to ask. – ab2 Apr 02 '16 at 14:32
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    My close-vote reason isn't the duplicate; there is no a priori guarantee that 'next December' follows the same rules of interpretation as 'next Tuesday'. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 02 '16 at 15:01

2 Answers2

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He is most likely referring to December of the next year, 2017. If the speaker wished to refer to the December that comes next, in 2016, he might say "this December" or "this coming December". He could be referring to 2016, though. It's hard to tell sometimes, but the context usually tells you.

zondo
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Typically when referring to December 2016 we would say "This December", so December 2017 would be referred to as "Next December". Having said that, this is frequently quite an ambiguity in English - especially for saying next Monday (if the day is Sunday, for example), etc. But consider "next year" - this would definitely refer to 2017.

Inazuma
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