Posted: 6/24/2014 5:36:26 AM EDT
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Twice a month
or Every other month |
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Quoted:
bi·an·nu·al /bi'anyo?o?l/ adjective adjective: bi-annual occurring twice a year. "the biannual meeting of the planning committee" from this definition we can deduce that bi-monthly means "occurring twice a month". Quoted:
bi·an·nu·al /bi'anyo?o?l/ adjective adjective: bi-annual occurring twice a year. "the biannual meeting of the planning committee" from this definition we can deduce that bi-monthly means "occurring twice a month". Huh. Usage note
All words except biennial referring to periods of time and prefixed by bi-1 are potentially ambiguous. Since bi- can be taken to mean either “twice each” or “every two,” a word like biweekly can be understood as “twice each week” or “every two weeks.” To avoid confusion, it is better to use the prefix semi- to mean “twice each” ( semiannual; semimonthly; semiweekly ) or the phrase twice a or twice each ( twice a month; twice a week; twice each year ), and for the other sense to use the phrase every two ( every two months; every two weeks; every two years ). |
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bi-monthly, a., n., and adv.
[bi-2 4.] (Occurring or produced) every two months; n., a bi-monthly periodical. Also used = occurring (etc.) twice a month (cf. semi-monthly s.v. semi- 6 b). straight out of OED- they admit it's sometimes used to mean twice a month, but that's not the legit definition |
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Lol. Unfortunately bi-monthly is an ambiguous term.
bi- |b??| (often bin- before a vowel) comb. form two; having two: bicolored | biathlon | binocular. • occurring twice in every one: biannual | bimonthly. • occurring once in every two: bicentennial | biennial. • lasting for two: biennial | biennium. • doubly; in two ways: biconcave. • Chemistry a substance having a double proportion of the radical, group, etc., indicated by the simple word: bicarbonate | binoxalate. • Botany & Zoology (of division and subdivision) twice over: bipinnate. ORIGIN from Latin, earlier dui-, related to Greek di- ‘two’ and Sanskrit dvi- ‘doubly, having two.’ usage: The meaning of bimonthly (and other similar words such as biweekly and biyearly) is ambiguous. Bimonthly, for instance, can mean either ‘occurring or produced twice a month’ or ‘occurring or produced every two months.’ So, if an organization holds bimonthly meetings, over the course of a year, will it meet six times or twenty-four times? The only way to avoid this ambiguity is to use alternative expressions like every two months and twice a month. |
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Quoted:
Bi means two, semi means half. Thus, bi-monthly is every two months, and semi-monthly is every half month. Quoted:
Quoted:
To bisect a line is to cut it in half, therefore, to bi-month a month is to cut it in half. Bi means two, semi means half. Thus, bi-monthly is every two months, and semi-monthly is every half month. Strictly speaking, this is correct. However, as the majority of the population these days no longer know correct English, it's ambiguous as to what is actually intended. Does the person saying this know the correct use, or do they mean the other? There's really no way to know. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted:
Strictly speaking, this is correct. However, as the majority of the population these days no longer know correct English, it's ambiguous as to what is actually intended. Does the person saying this know the correct use, or do they mean the other? There's really no way to know. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile the answer is simple, the speaker's intention is irrelevant 
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I actually took the time to read it..