3 ms·
The point is that nobody would instinctively choose that fourth interpretation, because nobody instinctively thinks of events happening at a rate.
by twic 5y ago
The 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?