Feature Article- Smart Asses All Around
Below is a real correspondence between two young gentlemen, Mr. M. and Mr. E., and a few large dictionary companies. They were fet up with the ambiguity, as they say, of the term “bi-weekly.” (Emphasis added) They explain:
To Whom It May Concern,
The confusion over the true definition of the word ‘biweekly’ is an absolute absurdity. The ambiguity related to its real meaning leaves thousands curious over whether their rendez-vous will occur twice a week, or, equally plausibly, once every two weeks. Just the other semester, as my colleague Mr. M and I enrolled in one of Yale University’s linguistics courses, we were ashamed at the end of the term to find that we had missed three quarters of our appointments! Despite our high scores on the final exam, the incident inspired us to request an end to this linguistic anomaly.
We propose that Merriam-Webster take the lead in once and for all eliminating the confusion and provide a singular definition for the word. We propose that the word ‘biweekly’ be re-defined to mean ‘once every two weeks.’ The merit of our decision is founded on two justifications:
In the first) Human society has, for thousands of years, been irreversibly dividing time into smaller and smaller segments…Let us, as a society, take a giant step back and slow down our existence. Let us divide our months, not our weeks, into two….
In the second) The definition of ‘biweekly,’ when referring to scholarly and other journals, describes their publication as ‘every other week.’…
Sincerely,
Mr. M
Mr. E
Yale University
Merriam Websters Response:
Dear Mr. Maruca and Mr. Ettinger,
You make a compelling case for wrangling the signification of “biweekly” down to one meaning. Unfortunately, meanings are a lot like cats—very difficult to herd….
Since we enter what the language tells us, and the language tells us of two meanings, however maddening that can be, we are unable to accomplish nips and tucks on the face of the English language by unilateral fiat. …
So if you need bimonthly or biweekly, you should leave some clues in your context to the sense of bi- you mean….
Sincerely,
Thomas P.
Associate Editor
Composition Manager
Merriam-Webster Inc.
The Oxford Comma Comeback:
Mr. M. and Mr. E.,
Thank you for your message. It appears to be directed to another dictionary publisher, so I shall merely point out that Oxford dictionaries exist to describe the language as it is, with all its ambiguities and imperfections.
Some of our larger dictionaries provide usage notes; the Oxford Dictionary of English (2005), our largest one-volume dictionary of current English, provides such a note at BI-:
‘The meaning of [BI-WEEKLY] is ambiguous. Such words can either mean “occurring or produced twice a week” or “occurring or produced every two weeks”. The only way to avoid this ambiguity is to use alternative expressions like EVERY TWO WEEKS and TWICE A MONTH.’
Your university cannot expect full attendance if the frequency of a course is not clearly specified.
Margot Charlton
Oxford English Dictionary
