this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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Does anybody else...?

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Just say what you mean:

"every 2 weeks," or

"twice a week."

Pick the one you mean.

Because unfortunately "biweekly" can mean either of those things, which kinda makes the word useless.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 6 months ago

Unless I am trying to be funny and the ambiguity of the words I choose is desirable for the humor, I try not to use ambiguous language at all.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Get out of my head

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Yes, because I am a simpleton and Fortnightly and 'twice a week' already exists.

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There are not two definitions. The prefix (bi) modifies the root (week). The suffix (ly) modifies the combination (biweek). Biweekly will always mean "once every two weeks" due to the order in which English dictates that the modifiers operate.

[–] placatedmayhem@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The team I was on at work number of years ago had to hash this exact thing out because we had a "biweekly" status and was confusing people. We ultimately landed on not using the term.

Bimonthly and biannually have the same problem.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Biannual does not because of biennial.

Biannual: two times per every one year

Biennial: one time per every two years

No idea if there's similar words for weekly/monthly but I only know about yearly from this https://youtu.be/ljkaN_-d-Zg

[–] placatedmayhem@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

The Archer clip is wrong. Webster literally lists biennial as a definition for biannual, along with twice a year.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biannual

Cambridge says the same:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/biannual

Oxford put their stuff behind a paywall.