[net.nlang] Bi- vs. Semi- Usage

stuart (01/12/83)

I'm afraid that I don't agree that "common usage" should be allowed
to give bimonthly (-weekly, etc) two meanings. 

The prefix "bi" brings the meaning *"two"*. The prefix "semi" brings the
meaning *"half"*. Similarly, "hemi" and "demi" denote half or partial
properties. This comparision makes clear the difference between 
"every two .." and "twice a ..".  They are reciprocal!

To confuse a publication which is issued every two months with one which
is issued every half month is a mistake. This is not a matter of local 
usage, dialectism, jargon, slang or current idiom. The only way bimonthly
can legitimately come to mean "twice a month" is if we come to accept
"bi" as a prefix denoting "twice a ..." rather than "every two ...".

There are some things which should be taught more widely than they are
taught. That the component pieces of words often indicate some qualities
denoted by the whole is an unappreciated fact. 

						Stu Friedberg

trb (01/12/83)

You think bi- means half?
Ever hear of bicentennial?
How many years is that?  50?  Wrong.

	Andy Tannenbaum   Bell Labs  Whippany, NJ   (201) 386-6491

jwp (01/13/83)

If "biweekly" were taken to mean "twice a week" because "weekly" is a word
and "biweek" isn't, does that mean that, since "chloride" is a word,
"bichloride" should mean "contains half a chloride atom" rather than "contains
two chloride atoms"?  Would "bicycle" therefore mean "twice a cycle"?  Would
"bifurcate" mean "twice a fork"?