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Regarding the claim the "semi-" is unambiguous: the fundamental confusion with "bi-" arises from dealing with a rate, and the resultant lack of, if you will, se
by prvc 5y ago
Regarding the claim the "semi-" is unambiguous: the fundamental confusion with "bi-" arises from dealing with a rate, and the resultant lack of, if you will, semantic associativity. The same problem can arise in exactly the same way with the former prefix. And there's nothing they can do about it, as avowed descriptivists.
- klodolph 5y agoAs descriptivists, they observe that the "semi-" prefix is unambiguous, and the problem doesn't arise.
- lemoncucumber 5y agoI’m not sure I agree. Here’s my interpretation of what you mean by semantic associativity: “Bi-” is another way of saying “two,” and the confusion with “biweekly” arises because it’s unclear if the “two” should be taken to mean “two occurrences per week” or “two weeks per occurrence.” Meanwhile, “semi-” means “one half,” and in normal conversation it’s not common to say that an event occurs “one half of a time per week”. So it’s unambiguous that it must refer to “one occurrence per half week.”
- prvc 5y ago(biweek)ly = once per two week interval = 1/14 day^-1 bi(weekly) = double once per one week interval = 2/7 day^-1 (semiweek)ly = once per half-week interval = 2/7 day^-1 semi(weekly) = half of the rate of once per week interval = 1/14 day^-1 So, we end up with the same two meanings in the end.
- twic 5y agoThe point is that nobody would instinctively choose that fourth interpretation, because nobody instinctively thinks of events happening at a rate.
- D13Fd 5y agoI disagree. “Semi” means half, i.e., less than. But all things being equal, if a meeting is held “half as much as annually,” I would expect it to occur every 2 years, not twice as often as annually. I think it has the same issue as biannually or biweekly.
- charming_paint 5y agoI can see people learning English as a second language struggling, but I don’t think anybody raised with English would take semimonthly to mean every two months. Maybe this is because of how we learn about the prefix, with semicircles (half circles).
- D13Fd 5y agoI'm a native English speaker and I speak no other language. But my view is just one data point. The problem is whether "half as much as annually" is interpreted as twice as frequently (your view, and the accepted one) or half as frequently (my natural inclination).
- prvc 5y agoWhy would you think that?
- Grustaf 5y agoIt could perhaps have, but it doesn't. Nobody uses semi-annual to mean "every two years".
- _Nat_ 5y agoAlso, "semi-" might add some quantitative ambiguity. "Bi-" is more specifically a factor of 2, while "tri-" is a factor of 3, etc., though "semi-" can be a looser qualifier. If someone said that they did something "bi-annually", that'd sound more like they mean twice-per-year (even if that's an estimated average rate). By contrast, if they said "semi-annually", that'd sound more like they mean usually-several-times-per-year. (Or the inverses rates, due to the other ambiguity.)