'Next' And 'Previous' - Why Do These Words Seem To Be Used Illogically?

[AndiFlatland]

it's long been a source of irritation to me that these words seem to be used wrongly in documents where it would appear to make more sense to use them the other way round. For instance, when I go through my online bank statement, the pages are labelled at the bottom as 'Next' for earlier entries, or 'previous' for later entries. It's the same with checking through your purchase history on websites like Amazon and eBay, and I'm always getting caught out by what just seems to be wrongfooting for no good reason. Is there any good linguistic reason for this? To my way of thinking, 'next' is what happens after something that's just happened, while 'previous' is what happened before it. Or do the rules of cause and effect cease to apply in these cases ?

[gingejbee]

Isn't it because bank transactions (and purchase history on amazon etc) start at the present (most recent entries) and then you can scroll backwards...hence "next" is what came before?
Makes sense to me!

[Maydup]

It refers to the next page or the previous page. In the case of your bank statement the next page is previous transactions but its still the next page!

[TheChair]

What about sorted columns on a computer? An upward pointing arrow means they'll be sorted from the top down, and vice versa. Never makes sense to me.

[Peter Pedant]

it is related to the order of inspection and not the time of the event innit?

If you study Queen Elizabeth ( 1558 forward that is!) and then study her father, it is still the next subject
even tho he predates her....

I still havent got this week and when next week is

[THECORBYLOON]

On mines, the online statement sheets are numbered.