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Why does bi-weekly mean "every two weeks?" This has always bothered me because intuitively it should mean "twice a week." (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

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Similar case in point: "bimonthly" means "twice a month." That makes sense.

But the definition for "bi-weekly" does not make sense.

What do you think?

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[–] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If semi means half, then semi-weekly means half weekly. The problem is that this is still ambiguous, as you can interpret it as half the time span, so twice a week, or half the frequency, so ones every 2 weeks.

I know there is a difference in how people perceive time and I feel like this has something to do with that, but I can't quite put it to words

[–] ook_the_librarian@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

I get it can be confusing. We all have little mental quirks that sometimes make us feel like most people get something we don't. Eg, one of mine is that I can't get used to a digital watch. I like the more graphical format of an analog dial.

I just wish people would consult a dictionary a little more often than they do. Instead, it seems like they hope to confuse enough people to change the dictionary.