i think the difference is the frequency with which it is necessary to differentiate "this" and "next". for weekends, most of the time most people are talking i

i think the difference is the frequency with which it is necessary to differentiate "this" and "next". for weekends, most of the time most people are talking in ways that make "this weekend" "the next weekend to occur". so here, "this" and "next" are effectively synonymous. for days of the week, however, it is more often important to differentiate "this Thursday" (occuring in a couple of days from now, during this week) and "next thursday" (occuring in more than 7 days from now, as part of next week). If my hunch is correct, it would make conventions highly dependent on social scheduling frequency in a culture.