# Is "fortnight" common usage in Britain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033 "2011-04-03T13:54:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/21 "2011-04-03T18:39:58Z")
I’m leaving this thread now - I’m being unnecessarily snarky and I apologise. Yes, the USA is a big chunk of the English speaking world, in fact the single biggest chunk, and… there you go. I don’t know what I thought the OP meant with the remark I quoted, but I accept he meant no harm! I’ll punish myself for misuse of _The Princess Bride_ as well, don’t worry. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/22 "2011-04-03T18:41:49Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Just offhand I would say that when a span of time greater than a week, and less than a month, is being mentioned or discussed, it’s most often “a week to ten days” and only rarely “a fortnight” in this part of the world. (Southeastern USA) > > A week makes some sense but “two weeks” doesn’t make me think of anything special. A month does. A season does, and it can even mean the length of time a sport is to be played. > > I’m genuinely curious what sorts of activities and events involve fourteen days. Family holidays/vacations are the main context. You also usually get a fortnight off school at Easter and Christmas. Some short courses might be a fortnight long. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/23 "2011-04-03T18:43:48Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > I don’t know why they wouldn’t include India, since English is one of its (two) official languages. However as I said, “where to start?” was my immediate thought. I did contemplate going and adding up all the populations of all the countries with English as an official language, then maybe even trying some complicated maths to allow for residents of those countries who, for whatever reason, didn’t speak English, but then I thought - I don’t care. The OP can do the sums himself, though he won’t, because America will always be so big - so absolutely huge - gosh, we’re all really impressed down here, I can tell you. :rolleyes: Just trying to stick to the facts here, ma’am. I don’t know what got your hackles up. All I said was that the US is a sizable chunk of the English speaking world, which it is. India my have \> 1B people, but it doesn’t have 1B English speakers. It wouldn’t be accurate to call India part of “the English Speaking world”, whether English is one of its official languages or not. Only about 10% actually speak English. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/24 "2011-04-03T18:45:19Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > I heard it just two weeks ago. Heh. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/25 "2011-04-03T18:45:52Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > I don’t know why they wouldn’t include India, since English is one of its (two) official languages. Well, like I said, while English may be official, it’s used for business and government purposes, and for people who don’t speak the same first language to communicate. Most Indians speaks a different language at home and when with friends. That’s why _I_ wouldn’t include India when I say ‘the English speaking world,’ though, like I said, your mileage may vary. I don’t think you have to leave the thread; I’m just saying that I think you interpreted some American bravado that simply wasn’t there. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/26 "2011-04-03T18:51:01Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Family holidays/vacations are the main context. You also usually get a fortnight off school at Easter and Christmas. Some short courses might be a fortnight long. Excellent examples that do make good sense to me. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/27 "2011-04-03T18:52:49Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > Oh, where to start? OK, there are nearly a billion more people in India than there are in the USA. Now you add on all the other countries that speak English - and see how one day you might need to realise that you’re not everything. While there are nearly a billion more people in India than in the US, it does not follow that there are more English speakers. The India census claims that 226,000 Indians consider English their first language, and estimates that about 90 million commonly use it as a second or third language. By comparison, of the 308 million US re4sidents, the overwhelming majority consider English their first language and those who do not nearly always speak it as a second language. In other news, the speed of light is 1,802,613,657,600 furlongs per fortnight. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/28 "2011-04-03T18:54:13Z")
Fortnight is very common in the UK, especially in more official parlance (e.g. court orders for fines are often made “with a fortnight to pay”, slightly less common but still nothing out of the norm in the vernacular. As others have said ‘score’ is only used in the UK to refer to money in a vernacular way, much like ‘grand’ for a thousand. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/29 "2011-04-03T19:32:24Z")
Maybe Americans don’t say it, because we don’t do it. I have been working for over 30 years and I only recall a couple of times that I took a couple of weeks off at once. I seem to recall one place I worked where the employee manual actually said that you needed special permission to schedule more than a week off at one time. After all, a weeks vacation means 10 consecutive days off. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/30 "2011-04-03T19:45:40Z")
Fortnight used to have a companion, which was in common use up until the early 19th century in England: _sennight_ (for _seven nights_), although the word _week_ was used far more often. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/31 "2011-04-03T19:59:40Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Maybe Americans don’t say it, because we don’t do it. I have been working for over 30 years and I only recall a couple of times that I took a couple of weeks off at once. I seem to recall one place I worked where the employee manual actually said that you needed special permission to schedule more than a week off at one time. After all, a weeks vacation means 10 consecutive days off. Or maybe our attention span just isn’t that long. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/32 "2011-04-03T20:20:51Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Maybe Americans don’t say it, because we don’t do it. I have been working for over 30 years and I only recall a couple of times that I took a couple of weeks off at once. I seem to recall one place I worked where the employee manual actually said that you needed special permission to schedule more than a week off at one time. After all, a weeks vacation means 10 consecutive days off. 9 days, surely (unless you are counting the Friday evening as an additional day?) I like your suggestion that the reason the word is rarely used in America is because people rarely take two weeks off work. However I don’t think that’s right, because the word is commonly used in contexts other than time off work, such as how often something happens (“once a fortnight”), or describing a recent period (“over the last fortnight”). ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/33 "2011-04-03T20:23:07Z")
As An Gadaí points out, the word fortnight is standard usage in Ireland too. I’m surprised if it is not the norm in the USA, as it’s a useful word In Ireland, it is viewed as normal to take a continuous fortnight’s vacation. If you are travelling abroad (as most irish do) you use most of a day travelling each way. When I worked in a bank, they required employees to take at least one continuous vacation of a fortnight each year. There were two core reasons. They took the view that you need a fortnight to switch off completely and refuel your brain for work. They also calculated that the majority of fraudulent schemes would collapse during a two-week absence. Curiously, this meant that someone who refused a full vacation might be viewed with suspicion, and not honoured as a hard worker. In Ireland, a play or show will often be advertised as running for a fortnight only ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/34 "2011-04-03T20:45:25Z")
It’s used about as often in Canada as it is in the US, but I’ve tended to use it often when referring to a two week period (despite being about 4 generations removed from Britain) because, well, it’s the most convenient term to refer to a two-week period. One handy word. Can’t understand people’s reticence to not use perfectly cromulent words when the need arises. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/35 "2011-04-03T20:53:55Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > 9 days, surely (unless you are counting the Friday evening as an additional day?) > > I like your suggestion that the reason the word is rarely used in America is because people rarely take two weeks off work. However I don’t think that’s right, because the word is commonly used in contexts other than time off work, such as how often something happens (“once a fortnight”), or describing a recent period (“over the last fortnight”). Yes, I meant nine days. Ten days would only apply if you scheduled your vacation to start or end on a holiday that falls on a Monday or a Friday. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/36 "2011-04-03T21:14:06Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > When I worked in a bank, they required employees to take at least one continuous vacation of a fortnight each year. There were two core reasons. They took the view that you need a fortnight to switch off completely and refuel your brain for work. They also calculated that the majority of fraudulent schemes would collapse during a two-week absence. > > Curiously, this meant that someone who refused a full vacation might be viewed with suspicion, and not honoured as a hard worker. In the energy trading function where I work, all staff are required to take 2 continuous weeks off work once a year, as you describe. This is for the second reason you mentioned (to prevent fraud) rather than the first reason (for the mental health of the employee. In other (non-trading) parts of the same company, staff are allowed to take a larger number of shorter breaks if they prefer. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/37 "2011-04-03T21:20:16Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > I like your suggestion that the reason the word is rarely used in America is because people rarely take two weeks off work. However I don’t think that’s right, because the word is commonly used in contexts other than time off work, such as how often something happens (“once a fortnight”), or describing a recent period (“over the last fortnight”). Agreed. We also use “fortnightly” - e.g. if you get the dole you have to sign on fortnightly. When I returned from the US to England aged eight, I was given a “brainy kid” comprehension test, and only screwed up a single answer, which was “two weeks = a f\_\_\_n\_\_\_t”, which I didn’t have a clue about. I remember being really pissed off when they said my cultural understanding was contributory towards my general intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/38 "2011-04-03T21:22:21Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > When I worked in a bank, they required employees to take at least one continuous vacation of a fortnight each year. There were two core reasons. They took the view that you need a fortnight to switch off completely and refuel your brain for work. They also calculated that the majority of fraudulent schemes would collapse during a two-week absence Thinking back our holidays trips in the summer with Mum and Dad were always at least a fortnight long, never any shorter (Dad was in the bank). Conversely, it took someone in the Civil Service here to suffer a heart attack before their fraud was discovered. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/39 "2011-04-03T21:23:49Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > It’s used about as often in Canada as it is in the US, but I’ve tended to use it often when referring to a two week period (despite being about 4 generations removed from Britain) because, well, it’s the most convenient term to refer to a two-week period. One handy word. > > Can’t understand people’s reticence to not use perfectly cromulent words when the need arises. The idea that “fortnight” is one word and “two weeks” is two words is an artifact of writing, and doesn’t really reflect the way people talk. And while both are exactly two syllables, “two weeks’” is a little easier to say than "fortnight’. But who knows why it fell out of favor in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/40 "2011-04-03T22:14:58Z")
In Herndon, Virginia, where I used to live, the local public library is called the Fortnightly Library. Even though the name is long outdated, it’s preserved because of the town’s history and tradition. The name must confuse Americans who know what fortnightly means. “What, it only opens every two weeks?” Actually, it’s open every day. The library was founded in the 19th century by a ladies’ group called the Fortnightly Club, because its meetings are every two weeks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033.md?page=3)