Look up the adjective biweekly in this dictionary and you will see it defined as "occurring every two weeks" AND as "occurring twice a week." Similarly, the adjective bimonthly is defined as "occurring every two months" AND as "occurring twice a month."

For this, we are sorry. But we don't mean "sorry" in the sense that we feel penitence; we are not to blame. We mean "sorry" in the sense that we feel a kind of sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond our control or power to repair. //

One such case, sort of, is very similar to the cases at hand: the language offers us biannual for "twice a year" and biennial for "every two years." This is useful and elegant, but, alas, also frequently botched, with biannual so frequently used to mean "every two years" that we've had to enter that meaning in our dictionaries. But here another solution is readily available: skip biannual altogether and use in its place the common semiannual.

Ah, semi-! Just as a semicircle cuts a circle in half, so too does the prefix semi- semantically cut what it is affixed to in half: semiweekly means unambiguously two times per week; semimonthly means two times per month; semiannual means two times per year.

FrogsAndChipsSilver badge
He's right, of course
The importance of using the active voice cannot be emphasized enough.

DostoevskyBronze badge
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Re: He's right, of course
It appears my idea was stolen by you.

2 days
Bill Gray
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Re: He's right, of course
I suspect about 50% of us came here to make that post. I first came across it from a list of 'fumblerules', I think collected by William Safire circa 1980, that included :

Don't use no double negatives.

Sentences should a verb.

One will never have used the future perfect in one's entire life.

Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read and figure out.

I've told you a thousand times : avoid hyperbole.

(plus quite a bit more not currently coming to mind) //

2 days
rafff
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Re: He's right, of course
"I have searched for a word that refers to itself."

In a logic text book I once read the word is "homologous". "Heterologous" denotes a word that does not refer to itself. Clearly, there are no other possibilities.

"Short" is a short word, and so is homologous; "long" is not a long word and so is heterologous. But what about "Heterologous" itself? If "heterologous" is heterologous then it does not refer to itself and so must be homologous. But if it is homologous then it does refer to itself and so is heterologous.

Benegesserict CumbersomberbatchSilver badge
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Re: He's right, of course
There's a Dr Gödel here who would like to have a word with you. //