# Basic facts you learned late in life that you didn't really know. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711 "2010-02-19T23:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/281 "2010-03-16T21:05:03Z")
[quote=“salinqmind, post:75, topic:529711”] > [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > “_I_ had a pony. It was a beautiful pony! It was the Pride of Krakow!” As I recall, _everyone_ had pony! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/282 "2010-03-16T21:17:03Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Biweekly and bimonthly can mean either twice a week/month OR every 2 weeks/months. Both are correct. You mean, enough people have started to use the words incorrectly that some dictionaries list the incorrect definitions as acceptable alternative meanings. Now for the rest of my life when someone uses those words at me, I’ll have to ask whether they mean “once every two” or “twice every”. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/283 "2010-03-16T21:31:01Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > That said, there might be a filter that DOES filter out chlorine which I don’t know about, but it’s not a general issue item. Troops were instructed to soak rags with piss and breathe through them when attacked with chlorine gas in WWI. The urea neutralized the chlorine, while the amonia did not make it any worse. (soldiers also pissed down their rifle barrels to clean them. Perhaps Mars is also the god of watersports) ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/284 "2010-03-16T22:30:38Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I always figured boys would pass around the instructions from tampon boxes as a kind of easy-come-by proto-porn. No. We had real porn. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/285 "2010-03-16T23:22:55Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I sued to be a systems analyst for very large payroll databases. I’ve found that interviewing works equally well, sometimes better. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/286 "2010-03-16T23:28:53Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Embarrassingly late in my life, I learned that biweekly meant twice a week rather than once every two weeks. Really? I didn’t know that!.. I also didn’t know what a biennial plant was - I kept looking for the foxgloves to come up in the garden and just assumed I got bum plants, until I looked up “biennial”. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/287 "2010-03-17T00:13:06Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I sued to be a systems analyst for very large payroll databases. Biweekly meant every two weeks in that context because few people get paid exactly twice a week. I thought that there was no good way around this vocabulary problem but I do like the idea of “fortnightly” coming back into vogue once again and that would work. > [@interface2x](#): > > I’ve found that interviewing works equally well, sometimes better. Interviewing never got me a systems analyst position, interface. I wish I had known Shagnasty’s strategy years ago. It sounds like a fast track to success! _ **- Og** _ ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/288 "2010-03-17T00:14:16Z")
This one makes me cringe when I think about it: Until I was 20 or so, I thought it was pronounced Green-Witch Village. And I’m lucky enough to have a brother who reminds me of this every five years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/289 "2010-03-17T00:24:26Z")
> [@Rex\_Goliath](#): > > There are no [wild buffalo](http://www.notitia.com/bison/Buffalo.htm) in North America, only Bison. Buffalo are native to Asia and Africa. > > eta: The plural of Bison is not “Buffalo.” I learned that one in January. D’oh. I almost choked on my yogurt over that one. That would mean that Buffalo never roamed where Buffalo, New York now stands. :eek: And where would that leave the Buffalo Bills? Buffalo Bill Cody would have to have been a total fraud, as well. Just thought of that, now. _ **- Oddly yours, me** _ (Location: One sizeable city to the right, along the NYS Thruway.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/290 "2010-03-17T01:23:20Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > You mean, enough people have started to use the words incorrectly that some dictionaries list the incorrect definitions as acceptable alternative meanings. Now for the rest of my life when someone uses those words at me, I’ll have to ask whether they mean “once every two” or “twice every”. It’s not that people use the word incorrectly, but that it usually means twice a week primarily in [British usage](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biweekly#Etymology). ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/291 "2010-03-17T01:23:49Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Don’t feel bad. I pronounced ‘‘epitome’’ as ‘‘ **Eh** -pit-ohm’’ until I was 20. Uh-oh. How am I supposed to say it? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/292 "2010-03-17T01:28:31Z")
According to the IRS payroll tables, and every payroll data processing system I have ever seen, biweekly means every two weeks (26 pay periods / year) and semimonthly means twice a month (24 pay periods / year). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/293 "2010-03-17T01:37:29Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Uh-oh. How am I supposed to say it? :smack: Eh-pit-oh-mee. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/294 "2010-03-17T02:07:24Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Eh-pit-oh-mee. :smack: I knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/295 "2010-03-17T02:23:43Z")
Listening to the radio earlier a mention was made about the Yugo and how it was an import from Yugoslavia. I never made the connection before :smack:. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/296 "2010-03-17T06:03:05Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > I used to think that crack whores were really good whores. You know, really good at what they did, kinda like a crack shot. (snip) You’ve got the first line of a novel right there. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/297 "2010-03-17T06:07:42Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > You’ve got the first line of a novel right there. Genius! ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/298 "2010-03-17T06:36:30Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Until just now, when I saw this and looked it up, I thought draught, as in draught beer or draught horse, was spelled “draft.” In fact, Google Chrome is telling me right now that “draught” is spelled incorrectly. :3 I think this is an American/British split. American English = draft, Commonwealth English = draught. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/299 "2010-03-17T06:46:31Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > You mean, enough people have started to use the words incorrectly that some dictionaries list the incorrect definitions as acceptable alternative meanings. Now for the rest of my life when someone uses those words at me, I’ll have to ask whether they mean “once every two” or “twice every”. Well, it was this way when I was a kid, too (meaning both twice a week and every two weeks). A loonng time ago. And it’s the same in my 1974 dictionary. So this isn’t something new. > [@](#): > > According to the IRS payroll tables, and every payroll data processing system I have ever seen, biweekly means every two weeks (26 pay periods / year) and semimonthly means twice a month (24 pay periods / year). Obviously, they have to pick a standard usage. We really should use semi-weekly to mean twice a week. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711/300 "2010-03-17T14:11:38Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Another example of names changing from male to female. One of our client contacts in this office is named Loren. I thought it was a woman until the first time I got a call from him. > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Now for the rest of my life when someone uses those words at me, I’ll have to ask whether they mean “once every two” or “twice every”. The horror! The horror! And seriously, what is \*up \*with prescriptivist Americans being unable to use punctuation according to the standard? That’s the second time in so many days. For someone so certain that words have immutable correct definitions, you certainly are demonstrably ignorant of the fact that commas and periods go \*inside \*of quotation marks. > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > No. We had real porn. I was going to be surprised by this, but then I remembered that my cousin and I (both female) had a bucket of porn in the woods behind her house that she’d found in the dumpster of a neighboring apartment complex. Definitely pre-puberty. So, yeah, I guess kids \*are \*pretty good at getting their hands on it. > [@Nobody](#): > > Listening to the radio earlier a mention was made about the Yugo and how it was an import from Yugoslavia. … _Wow_. My mind has just been blown. Next I suppose you’re going to tell me that the Pinto was made by a horse. > [@needscoffee](#): > > Obviously, they have to pick a standard usage. We really should use semi-weekly to mean twice a week. But… but… but… **fortnightly**! We \*never \*get to use the word “fortnight” anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-facts-you-learned-late-in-life-that-you-didnt-really-know/529711.md?page=16)