# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/61 "2011-04-05T05:56:13Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 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. I find this post terribly amusing, given how many Americans still get paid every two weeks. It hasn’t been so long since **swampbear** ’s then-job moved to monthly pay, producing many entertaining MMP posts detailing the gnashing of teeth and moaning over “but how _ever_ will I be able to budget for that long?”. The last time I worked in the US was in 2003 and we got paid fortnightly. My Scottish, Geordie and Welsh coworkers used it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/62 "2011-04-05T06:06:21Z")
“Fourteen nights” seems like an odd thing to say. If nothing else, I’d say “fourteen days.” So would most languages, wouldn’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/63 "2011-04-05T06:11:53Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > It’s just interspersed throughout society. As \*\*Cazzle \*\*noted:I’ve been in the workforce almost 30 years. I’ve only ever experienced fortnighly pays. As a result, a lot of automatic deductions are fortnightly too. > > Ditto for rent (when I’ve had to pay it). > > Government allowances are paid fortnightly. Even simple things like the local council garden waste collection is fortnightly. Wow, is rent generally collected fortnightly in Australia? For some reason I just assumed monthly rent was the norm worldwide. I thought the Conchords were just being facetious when they said they paid the “[mutha uckin’ rent fortnightly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqxnm6t3QMw#t=0m42s).” ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/64 "2011-04-05T07:20:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Can you elaborate? What do they speak? Is it just highly accented English, or are you saying they speak some form of Scots or some Celtic language? Pay no attention, marra – they’re only showing their ignorance. The speech of the North East of England is the purest form of English there is, and fairer by far than the debased creole that passes for “English” elsewhere. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/65 "2011-04-05T08:20:43Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Wow, is rent generally collected fortnightly in Australia? For some reason I just assumed monthly rent was the norm worldwide. > > I thought the Conchords were just being facetious when they said they paid the “[mutha uckin’ rent fortnightly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqxnm6t3QMw#t=0m42s).” Yep, we collect our rent fortnightly, and also pay our mortgage fortnightly (although the latter was optional - we changed it from monthly to pay off the mortgage faster) ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/66 "2011-04-05T08:22:48Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Wow, is rent generally collected fortnightly in Australia? For some reason I just assumed monthly rent was the norm worldwide. > > I thought the Conchords were just being facetious when they said they paid the “[mutha uckin’ rent fortnightly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqxnm6t3QMw#t=0m42s).” By the way…the Conchords aren’t Australian… ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/67 "2011-04-05T08:53:27Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > “Fourteen nights” seems like an odd thing to say. > > If nothing else, I’d say “fourteen days.” So would most languages, wouldn’t they? If you look closely, you’ll see that a vast proportion of the English language, especially colloquial speech like this, is an odd thing to say. The language - fortunately for us - has not evolved to Orwellian efficiency. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/68 "2011-04-05T11:21:19Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > “Fourteen nights” seems like an odd thing to say. > > If nothing else, I’d say “fourteen days.” So would most languages, wouldn’t they? Well in Spanish, a fortnight is “quince días,” i.e., 15 days. For the sake of completeness, a week is “ocho días,” i.e., eight days. Of course that’s week as an interval, not literally the definition of a week. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/69 "2011-04-05T12:02:36Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > By the way…the Conchords aren’t Australian… I know, but I was replying to **Cunctator**. I assumed that if Australia was fortnightly, then NZ would be, too. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/70 "2011-04-05T12:06:54Z")
I’ve never paid rent fortnightly. It’s always (bizarrely) advertised as a weekly price, and paid monthly. Maybe this is regional? ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/71 "2011-04-05T12:25:32Z")
I must admit, this (fortnight=archaic in the USA) is news to me. My (Scottish) software company has a Boston MA-based client with whom we’ve arranged a fortnightly release schedule for new versions of their software, so I’ve used the word fortnight in various emails without comment from the other side of the pond. We’re on good terms with these clients, we often joke about Ye Olde Date Formats and stuff, so I’m surprised they haven’t commented. I’ll maybe ask my main contact (originally from Wisconsin) what she thinks about the word, just out of interest. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/72 "2011-04-05T13:04:11Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Well in Spanish, a fortnight is “quince días,” i.e., 15 days. Also known as una quincena. Una ochena is 8 days, una novena 9 days, un triduo 3 days; while some of these are used mostly on religious contexts, this usage is not exclusive. One of the points we need to clarify when we’re setting up The Big Business Database to create inspections or quality controls periodically is whether by “quincenalmente” people really mean “every 15 days”, “twice a month” or “every 14 days (so, every other X-day-of-the-week)”. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/73 "2011-04-05T22:49:28Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’ve never paid rent fortnightly. It’s always (bizarrely) advertised as a weekly price, and paid monthly. Maybe this is regional? It may be, yes. I’ve paid rent fortnightly in NZ and the ACT. I’ve never paid rent here in NSW, so I don’t know what the practice is. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/74 "2011-04-06T16:10:17Z")
Just ran across [this](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42451871/ns/world_news-europe/)on MSNBC. My first thought was that it had to do with sports. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/75 "2011-04-07T18:21:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Can you elaborate? What do they speak? Is it just highly accented English, or are you saying they speak some form of Scots or some Celtic language? Being totally honest, when a Geordie is in full flow; people from the rest of Britain (and probably the English speaking world,I am not joking) can not understand him. I am not a linguist but this is what I believe from personal experience. Lowland Scots can seems to be a branch of one dialect of which N.E. English is one (Geordie), also Northern Ireland English, which shares many of the words and terms of the other two, and which when you’ve been exposed to it for long enough you realise that the accent has so many similarities. Reference N.I. accent , it doesn’t matter which community their from the accent is the same . The accent is also found in some parts of the R.O.I close to the border with N.I. Highland Scots is totally different from the Lowlanders accent,it is very clear and pure. AND understandable. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/76 "2011-04-07T18:30:50Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > Just ran across [this](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42451871/ns/world_news-europe/)on MSNBC. My first thought was that it had to do with sports. For those confused by the link as it appears currently, originally the headline started, "Scores missing … ". It now reads, “Up to 250 missing after migrant boat sinks off Italy.” ---
**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 7, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/77 "2011-04-07T20:01:22Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > “Fourteen nights” seems like an odd thing to say. > > If nothing else, I’d say “fourteen days.” So would most languages, wouldn’t they? Supposedly, it was customary in Germanic languages to count the number of days by referencing the number of nights. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/78 "2011-04-07T20:33:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Supposedly, it was customary in Germanic languages to count the number of days by referencing the number of nights. I actually prefer that method. There’s no such thing as a four day vacation. It’s a three night vacation. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/79 "2011-04-07T21:14:34Z")
That’s certainly common in Britain. Holiday companies sell holidays by the night. Seven and 14-night holidays are common. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/80 "2011-04-07T21:36:25Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Reference N.I. accent , it doesn’t matter which community their from the accent is the same . Accents in NI vary quite a lot by region and social class though. There’s no “Northern Ireland” accent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033.md?page=5)