The post on "bimester" prompts a question that's always confused me.

Do you understand "biweekly" and similar terms to mean "two times every week" or "every two weeks"?

Yes, I know I could look it up in the dictionary. But this is the place to check how people actually us the words.

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Do you understand "biweekly" and similar terms to mean "two times every week" or "every two weeks"?

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I understand it to mean two times every week, but I've heard it both ways.

There's some furniture store in town that advertises for their "semi-biannual" sale. I have no idea WHAT they mean by that. I think they just wanted to throw in as many prefixes as possible.

"Coming soon! The SemiDemiHemiAnnual Sale!"

It's off on a tangent, but Winterbranch reminded me of a small laundromat near here that shut down, then re-opened. They posted a sign saying, "Re-grand opening!"

I use "biweekly" to mean twice weekly, and I felt very sure about that....until I looked it up in dictionary.com. They confused me! I always consider the first definition to be the most widely used one, and that is "every 2 weeks." The next definition is "twice weekly", and the synonym for that is "semiweekly." Now, I might have thought "semiweekly" to mean every 2 weeks.

Perhaps the Brits have it right. The dictionary gives "fortnightly" as the definition for every 2 weeks. That should free up "biweekly" to mean twice a week!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
I use "biweekly" to mean twice weekly, and I felt very sure about that....until I looked it up in dictionary.com. They confused me! I always consider the first definition to be the most widely used one, and that is "every 2 weeks." The next definition is "twice weekly", and the synonym for that is "semiweekly." Now, I might have thought "semiweekly" to mean every 2 weeks.

Perhaps the Brits have it right. The dictionary gives "fortnightly" as the definition for every 2 weeks. That should free up "biweekly" to mean twice a week!

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All the bi- words are ambiguous and therefore potentially misleading. A quick check of my dictionary reveals "bimonthly" to be defined as both twice a month and every two months. There is a usage note pointing out the possibility of confusion and saying that for this reason the word is often avoided. The definitions for biweekly and biyearly also include the mutually contradictory definitions and a sinimar usage note.

For clarity I'd suggest never using any of these words.

Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.

Ah, but we all know what bisexual means!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Ah, but we all know what _bi_sexual means!

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Does it mean that both sexes should be present at the same time ?

Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Ah, but we all know what bisexual means!

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Actually, bisexual has more than one meaning. A bisexual (or perfect) flower is one that contains both male and female reproductive structures (stamens and pistils). Bisexual animals are called hermaphrodites.

Tinman

It figures. Just when I think I know a concept!

American Heritage Dictionary tangles the whole thing into an unholy mess.

For the "bi- words" (biweekly; bimonthly; biyearly; biannual) they tell you that each can mean either "once every two weeks" (months; years) or or "twice a week", etc. But in each case (except "biannual") they direct you to their usage note under "bi-".

That note says that the only accurate definition It reads, "Bimonthly and biweekly mean 'once every two months' and 'once every two weeks.' For 'twice a month' and 'twice a week, the words semimonthly and semiweekly should be used."

Now it would seem that the test of this would be the "tri- words". There's a prefix (semi) meaning "half", but there's no prefix meaning "a third".

According to AHD, tri-weekly has the same ambiguity, but tri-monthly does not: it means only "every three months", and not "thrice a month". There is no listing for either "triyearly" or "triannual".

Carrying this further:
We have other, perfectly good words to mean "every two weeks," etc.

• every two weeks - fortnightly
• every two monthly - bimestral
• every two years - biennial
• every three months - quarterly
• every three weeks - ok, so we don't have a separate word for this

So it would seem that we could preserve "biweekly" to unambiguously mean "twice a week", etc.

It seems to me that "semi-weekly" would not do for this meaning. It ought to mean precisely every half-week. That is, an event happening every Monday and Tuesday would be "bi-weekly" but it would not be "semi-monthly".

Just to add to the confusion, there's a small local store chain around here called "Bi-Mart." They are open every day, not every other day, and they serve people of any sexual orientation, so I have no idea what the name means.

Perhaps someone was trying to make a pun on "Buy-Mart" ?

Which could always backfire, I suppose: a patron who didn't like the merchandise, or the prices, could easily convert it to "Bye-Mart!"...

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Tri-Mart?

Perhaps someone was trying to make a pun on "Buy-Mart" ?

Which could always backfire, I suppose: a patron who didn't like the merchandise, or the prices, could easily convert it to "Bye-Mart!"...

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One could always open a store called "BuySexual", but I believe it would only be legal in Nevada. (At least here in the US.)

Never let a Dago buy !!

To some extent all our researches in the dictionaries and all our suggestions for legitimate alternatives are missing the point.

It doesn't actually matter if the dictionary says that the only correct usage of bimonthly is "every two months" if that is not how people use it.

Because people will speak the way they habitually speak rather than use every word accurately they will go on using the word to mean "twice a month" or "every two months" as the fancy takes them regardless of what is right or wrong.

Sadly those who know words such as bimestral and biennial will cause more confusion by using them as they will often have to explain what they mean. I'm also not convinced that these words aren't open to the same dual interpretation.

For clarity I try to avoid them altogether and use the phrases "every two weeks" and so on. When people use the words to me if it's important that I know what they mean then I ask. If it's not important then I just let it go.

Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.

If you have any significant experience in tending a garden you know what a biennial is. As opposed to an annual or an perennial.

(Does that make it horticulturalists' jargon? Used by "the only group that still uses the word correctly"?)

[And does this crossthread(v) to Dorothy Parker? As CJ's passes/glasses verse crossthreaded to the double-dactyl thread?]

I was re-reading Kinky Friedman's book Guide to Texas Etiquette OR How to Get to Heaven or Hell Without Going Thru Dallas-Ft. Worth.

One section is entitled "Actual Quotes From Actual Texas Politicians." Oh my, there are some doozies!

Here's a fun one:

"Oh, good. Now he'll be bi-ignorant."
--Texas Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower, when told that Texas Governor Bill Clements had been studying Spanish

Well, WB, there ARE a few good Texans! Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, and Bill Moyers are all Texans. Most of the rest are graduates of the Sam Huston Institute (of) Technology.

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Well, WB, there ARE a few good Texans! Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, and Bill Moyers are all Texans. Most of the rest are graduates of the Sam Huston Institute (of) Technology.

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Heh.

Molly Ivins is originally from Monterey, California. (Actually, Kinky Friedman, hissownself, was born in Chicago, I believe.)

And I'm originally from Kentucky.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog,
it's too dark to read.--Groucho Marx
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