Fortnightly, biweekly etc etc

[Admiral Shran]

And to me, the sort of person who uses “fortnightly” is a bowler-hatted, brolly-carrying, Savile Row-tailored gent. Which I am definitely not.

Have you seen the well-to-do up and down Park Avenue, on that famous thoroughfare with their noses in the air, high hats and Arrow collars, white spats and lots of dollars, spending every dime for a wonderful time?

 

[Shanndee]

Marc wrote:
giving the time here is also different. I'll say it's half past the hour or quarter to the next hour and the wife will say "that's x:30 right?".

I've lived in Canada my whole life, and I've always used those terms for the time.

I've used those terms my whole life as well...but I grew up on the east coast (which has a large population of people with Scottish/Irish/English heritage), so I think we kept some of the key phrases in daily use a little longer.

I live on the west coast now, and I don't hear these terms used much at all...

 

[WillsBabe]

What term to use for something that occurs every two weeks

Fortnightly

What term do you use for something that occurs two times a week.

Twice weekly

Twice a month

Twice a month

Every second month

Every other month

 

[scotpens]

And to me, the sort of person who uses “fortnightly” is a bowler-hatted, brolly-carrying, Savile Row-tailored gent. Which I am definitely not.

Have you seen the well-to-do up and down Park Avenue, on that famous thoroughfare with their noses in the air, high hats and Arrow collars, white spats and lots of dollars, spending every dime for a wonderful time?

Yes, I’ve gone slumming on Park Avenue. I hide behind a pair of fancy glasses and make faces when a member of the classes passes.

And before this turns into the Irving Berlin lyrics thread, I still say “biannual” means the same thing as “biennial.” It means every two fucking years, dammit!

 

[tomalak301]

I suppose you must be a little surprised to find out it not an obsolete word but a commonly used word in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and most other Commonwealth countries (excluding Canada, it would seem).

A little bit, and I didn't mean to come off as disrespectful. I learned something in this thread and I appreciate that.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I didn't think you were being disrespectful.

I wonder when fortnight stopped being used in America. I read that the Amish still use the word.

I also read that Americans don't use the term "Monday-week" (Tuesday-week etc) meaning the Monday after this coming Monday. is this so? Australians, and I assume the British, will use the term "Monday fortnight" meaning the Monday two weeks after the coming Monday.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ No, I've never heard anybody use those terms.

I say:

1) What term to use for something that occurs every two weeks

Every two weeks or every other week.

2) What term do you use for something that occurs two times a week.

Two times a week.

Twice a month

Twice a month.

Every second month

Every other month or bi-monthly (that last one comes from growing up reading comics. ).

Twice a year

Twice a year or every six months, whichever is more appropriate.

Every two years

Every two years or every other year.

 

[RoJoHen]

I also read that Americans don't use the term "Monday-week" (Tuesday-week etc) meaning the Monday after this coming Monday. is this so?

I have never even heard of this before. We would probably just say, "The Monday after next" or "two Mondays from now."

 

[scotpens]

I wonder when fortnight stopped being used in America. I read that the Amish still use the word.

“Fortnight” never completely disappeared from use in America, but in modern times it’s mainly used in advertising and marketing to convey a certain snob appeal. For example, back in the 1970s, the monthly magazine Esquire briefly experimented with a smaller, twice-monthly format called Esquire Fortnightly. It was a flop.

As for the Amish using the word -- well, they would, wouldn’t they?

I also read that Americans don't use the term "Monday-week" (Tuesday-week etc) meaning the Monday after this coming Monday. is this so?

The first time I heard a Brit say he had an appointment for “Tuesday week” I had no idea what he was talking about. Most of us Yanks say “a week from Tuesday” or “a week from this coming Tuesday.”

 

[cultcross]

Australians, and I assume the British, will use the term "Monday fortnight" meaning the Monday two weeks after the coming fortnight.

Hmm we definitely say 'Monday week' and so on and people would certainly understand what I meant if I said 'Monday fortnight' but then again, I'm not sure I ever have said that!

In my experience of interacting with Americans at least, 'fortnight' is largely unknown in the US outside of people who study this sort of thing, are Anglophiles, or read TrekBBS! It is a very useful word, I find, and makes perfect sense if you understand the origin, a fourteen-night.

So to answer the question, I'd say 'fornightly' for 'every two weeks' and 'twice a week' for 'twice a week'

Another time related one that confused me reading Stephen King the other day - 'Quarter of five' - is that quarter to, or quarter past?

 

[MacLeod]

It's fairly easy, Fortnightly = every 2 weeks, biweekly = twice a week.

Though in regions where fortnightly is not a commonly used word, I can understand the confusion.

 

[cultcross]

It's fairly easy, Fortnightly = every 2 weeks, biweekly = twice a week.

Though in regions where fortnightly is not a commonly used word, I can understand the confusion.

Well technically, biweekly, biannual etc. can mean both twice a week/year and every two weeks/years - just one of the quirks of English. 'Fortnightly' is a useful term but it doesn't really remove the ambiguity of the 'bi' prefix.

 

[scotpens]

In my experience of interacting with Americans at least, 'fortnight' is largely unknown in the US outside of people who study this sort of thing, are Anglophiles, or read TrekBBS!

Or are affected poseurs, like me.

Another time related one that confused me reading Stephen King the other day - 'Quarter of five' - is that quarter to, or quarter past?

“A quarter of” means the same as “a quarter to” -- that is, fifteen minutes before the hour. It’s a phrase that was used when I was growing up, but I seldom hear it now.

 

[MacLeod]

I didn't think you were being disrespectful.

I wonder when fortnight stopped being used in America. I read that the Amish still use the word.

I also read that Americans don't use the term "Monday-week" (Tuesday-week etc) meaning the Monday after this coming Monday. is this so? Australians, and I assume the British, will use the term "Monday fortnight" meaning the Monday two weeks after the coming Monday.

Sometimes it's phrased that way fairly often it'll be phrased "A week Monday", "A Fortnight Monday". Sometimes the word on will be placed before the day i.e. "A Week on Monday" but this might simply be regional differences.

Also the tern bi-annual means twice a yea,r bi-ennial means once every two years. Though once again the former can mean both.

 

[cultcross]

Well biennial is far from unambiguous too, as it can also mean one event lasting for two years.

 

[MacLeod]

^True, but like many words with more than one defination. One is more commonly associated with it.

 

[trampledamage]

Marc wrote:
giving the time here is also different. I'll say it's half past the hour or quarter to the next hour and the wife will say "that's x:30 right?".

I've lived in Canada my whole life, and I've always used those terms for the time.

I've used those terms my whole life as well...but I grew up on the east coast (which has a large population of people with Scottish/Irish/English heritage), so I think we kept some of the key phrases in daily use a little longer.

I live on the west coast now, and I don't hear these terms used much at all...

That is very true about the East coast - the Newfoundland accent sounds closer to Irish than the rest of Canada!

 

[Miss Chicken]

I was once reading about some Tassie slang words - nointer, yaffler and rummin. These three words are dying out in Tasmania and are only used by older Tasmanians. They seemed to have died out on the Australian Mainland and in Britain in the 19th or early 20th century.

However the word nointer did survive, at least up to recently, on Newfoundland. The Newfies also used the word yaffle but it had a different meaning from the Tasmanian word.

 

[Holdfast]

Twice a week: Biweekly
Every 2 weeks: Fortnightly
Twice a month: Twice a month or Twice monthly
Once a month: Monthly
Twice a year: Biannually
Every 2 years: Biennally

I also use the "week next..." phrasing people have been talking about upthread.

I can buy that, and using fortnight, as being British English usage that is uncommon elsewhere, but I've never heard of biannual being used to refer to every 2 years in any official context. Surely it's just simple incorrect usage? Is it actually correct usage in any accepted style guide? Biennial follows the sames pattern as triennial, quadrennial, centennial, millennial, etc, etc. Annual the only exception I can think of to that pattern.

 

[Canadave]

Marc wrote:
giving the time here is also different. I'll say it's half past the hour or quarter to the next hour and the wife will say "that's x:30 right?".

I've lived in Canada my whole life, and I've always used those terms for the time.

I've used those terms my whole life as well...but I grew up on the east coast (which has a large population of people with Scottish/Irish/English heritage), so I think we kept some of the key phrases in daily use a little longer.

I live on the west coast now, and I don't hear these terms used much at all...

That is very true about the East coast - the Newfoundland accent sounds closer to Irish than the rest of Canada!

The Cape Breton accent tends to be very Gaelic as well, though it's a bit closer to a Scottish accent than an Irish one, I find.