this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2023
644 points (99.8% liked)

196

17133 readers
2562 users here now

Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.


Rule: You must post before you leave.



Other rules

Behavior rules:

Posting rules:

NSFW: NSFW content is permitted but it must be tagged and have content warnings. Anything that doesn't adhere to this will be removed. Content warnings should be added like: [penis], [explicit description of sex]. Non-sexualized breasts of any gender are not considered inappropriate and therefore do not need to be blurred/tagged.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on our matrix channel or email.

Other 196's:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Interesting, I've come to understand those prefixes to have the opposite meaning. I looked into it, and apparently the actual usage of bi vs semi is not super consistent, and has been historically ambiguous and especially difficult because of how confidently people tend to believe others share their understanding on the words.

Take the term biannual, for instance:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biannual

You'll notice a lot of the words you listed include both "twice per" and "once every other" in their dictionary definitions. Of course, dictionaries are descriptive and not prescriptive indicators of language, and I think it's fine to argue one's case to keep the terminology consistent at least within the bounds of a conversation.

I guess the takeaway is that it's good to have a context under which the terms are consistent, like with banking, but also important to understand that there are other contexts with definitions that differ, and that those different contexts aren't incorrect.