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What does "bi-monthly" mean to you?

Which way do you use it?

  • Twice a month

    Votes: 708 39.0%

  • Once every 2 months

    Votes: 1,024 56.4%

  • I use both!

    Votes: 84 4.6%
  • Total voters
    1,816
Kyuuji

Kyuuji

The Favonius Fox
Member
Nov 8, 2017
31,897
Bi-weekly is twice a week. Fortnightly is once every two weeks.

Bi-monthly is twice a month. We must fix this rift in our timeline.
 
Fuzzy

Fuzzy

Completely non-threatening
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,119
Toronto
It's a stupid term that should never be used because it has two meanings.
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
59,897
Every two months.

How I know?

I used to subscribe to some magazines as a kid--such as Nintendo Power--and I remember when it went from bi-monthly (their description) to monthly. That stayed with me.
 
Aurica

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,457
A mountain in the US
Shoe

Shoe

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,180
djplaeskool said:
I've always taken the HR meaning:
Bi-monthly = exactly twice a month.
eg. You get paid every 1st and 15th of the month, regardless of where those days fall
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Yeah, English is strange because that is the definition of bi-monthly for payroll, but then bi-weekly means every 2 weeks.
 
Dragoon

Dragoon

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
11,231
Once every months?..

InfamousVariableGossamerwingedbutterfly-size_restricted.gif
 

Deleted member 11479

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,053
Every other month. I know that because Venice Biennale is held every other year. So if biennale is every other year, that means bimonthly means every other month. I am smart.
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,918
Bi-monthly means twice a month to me.

I'm vastly more of a "descriptive grammar" person so I don't think word usage has an absolute fixed meaning forever and ever. I do like to watch grammar prescriptivists get worked up about the correct way to do things though!
 
GYODX

GYODX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,233
I get paid bi-weekly, which is every two weeks. Most of the time, that's the same as twice a month, but once or twice a year, I'll get paid three times in the same month.

With that in mind, I took bi-monthly to mean 'every two months'.
 
Sybil

Sybil

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,642
English is bullshit, yes,
but man I can't be going around thinking that biannual is twice a year and then somehow thinking bimonthly is once every two months. My brain cannot will it
 
Dan L

Dan L

Tried to PM someone for a tag
Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,177
Regina, Saskatchewan
I know it technically mean every second month, but I use it to say twice a month.

I get payed on the 15th and last day of the month. I always say I am payed bimonthly.
 
Addi

Addi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,206
This is like that ballerina spinning around and you can change the direction she spins with your mind.
 
Faenix1

Faenix1

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,114
Canada
I get paid Bi-weekly, which is every two weeks; which is typically twice a month. Makes no sense that Bi-Monthly would mean basically the same damn thing
 
Like the hat?

Like the hat?

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,550
I think of it as every two months but bi can mean either two or split in half so i would just say every other month or twice a month.
 
Poppy

Poppy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,265
richmond, va
gonna be honest i have used it as both and never fucking known what the right answer was

its one of those things ive never looked up
 
Magnus

Magnus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,350
People laugh at me when I suggest that the audience is split on the meaning, but just look at the poll results here.
 
tabris

tabris

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,234
In HR and payroll - Bi-Monthly and Bi-Weekly aren't the same thing.

Bi-Monthly means 15th and EOM pay dates. Bi-Weekly means being paid every 2 weeks (and in 4-4-5 accounting that often means 2 weeks where you get 3 paycheques in a month).
 
Jarmel

Jarmel

The Jackrabbit Always Wins
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,261
New York
I fucking hate this terminology so much because people use both definitions and it fucks everything up.
 
Bear

Bear

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,851
Bi-monthly = twice a month.
Bi-weekly = every two weeks.

I don't make the rules, but that's them.
 
Kinsei

Kinsei

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
20,513
Biweekly - once every two weeks
Bimonthly - once every two months

Fortnightly isn't even a word, regardless of what my spell check says.
 
Ojli

Ojli

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,652
Sweden
Once every other month. For me, the bi-prefix is more related to 'month' than the event in question.
 
Carn

Carn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,904
The Netherlands
GameAddict411 said:
Where I live bi-monthly means twice a month. Surprised it could something in other places.
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same here, altough we don't use the prefix 'bi-' in that way. Every two months would be 'Tweemaandelijks', every two weeks would be 'Tweewekelijks; so basically 'Two-monthly' and 'Two-weekly' in English. A quick search actually has a lot of pages saying "do not confuse 'two-weekly with twice a week', hehe.
 
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