Jon Heslop, the Professor of Irish at Trinity College Dublin, David Greene, used to tell the same joke; he was once asked if there was any word in the Irish language expressing the same concept as mañana, to which he had replied, after some thought, that there was but it lacked the degree of urgency of the Spanish term.

What I really need, however, is a way of distinguishing what English speakers mean when they say "next Friday" or "last Monday"; it is perfectly clear what "next week" or "last month" mean, but "next Friday" seems to be capable of meaning either the Friday occurring later this same week, or the Friday following. There may be a simple rule, but if so, very few people follow it with any consistency .

On the other hand this could explain why my dating attempts were invariably unsuccessful.

Matthew