# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![inkling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkling)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/81 "2011-04-08T02:02:05Z")
A related question - I have seen in books written by English authors the construction “Wednesday-week” to mean “the Wednesday after the coming Wednesday” - and similar with -fortnight. I know what it means, and my family here in California use it and understand it, but I don’t think I have heard anyone else use it, ever. So - are \-week and -fortnight used anywhere else? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/82 "2011-04-08T02:31:50Z")
> [@inkling](#): > > So - are \-week and -fortnight used anywhere else? Yes, it’s a common usage here. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/83 "2011-04-08T02:49:29Z")
Concur with **Cunctator** ---
**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 8, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/84 "2011-04-08T03:43:28Z")
> [@inkling](#): > > A related question - I have seen in books written by English authors the construction “Wednesday-week” to mean “the Wednesday after the coming Wednesday” - and similar with -fortnight. I know what it means, and my family here in California use it and understand it, but I don’t think I have heard anyone else use it, ever. > > So - are \-week and -fortnight used anywhere else? Wednesday-week? Wow, I’ve never heard anything like this and I thought I had a pretty broad exposure to British language and culture. I feel like I’ve been missing out. ---
**Author:** ![inkling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkling)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/85 "2011-04-08T04:11:40Z")
The one reference I can put my hands on is Douglas Adams’ _Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency_, which includes a character named Michael Wenton-Weakes, known as ‘Wednesday-week’ because that is when he perpetually promises to repay debts. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/86 "2011-04-08T05:10:42Z")
I’ve just come from a meeting where both “Monday week” and “Monday fortnight” were used a number of times. ---
**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 8, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/87 "2011-04-08T05:19:37Z")
> [@inkling](#): > > The one reference I can put my hands on is Douglas Adams’ _Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency_, which includes a character named Michael Wenton-Weakes, known as ‘Wednesday-week’ because that is when he perpetually promises to repay debts. I read that book when I was 16. That part (and doubtless countless other things) must have sailed right over my head. > [@Cunctator](#): > > I’ve just come from a meeting where both “Monday week” and “Monday fortnight” were used a number of times. So help me understand. Monday fortnight would be April 25th? The Monday after a fortnight has passed? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/88 "2011-04-08T05:22:36Z")
Monday week = Monday 18 April Monday fortnight = Monday 25 April ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/89 "2011-04-08T07:13:49Z")
> [@inkling](#): > > A related question - I have seen in books written by English authors the construction “Wednesday-week” to mean “the Wednesday after the coming Wednesday” - and similar with -fortnight. I know what it means, and my family here in California use it and understand it, but I don’t think I have heard anyone else use it, ever. > > So - are \-week and -fortnight used anywhere else? That’s another one that it wouldn’t have occurred to me wasn’t used in the US. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/90 "2011-04-08T08:01:52Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > 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. The same applies to any dialect sufficiently different to ones own. I can assure you that there are millions of English speakers around the world who would find you just as difficult to understand. > [@](#): > > 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. I’m sorry – could you possibly rephrase this as a coherent English sentence? > [@](#): > > 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. No. > [@](#): > > Highland Scots is totally different from the Lowlanders accent,it is very clear and pure. > > AND understandable. “Pure”? Pure what? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/91 "2011-04-08T08:10:54Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Highland Scots is totally different from the Lowlanders accent,it is very clear and pure. > > AND understandable. I was once asked by a Glaswegian “But do you really understand what he [from Elgin] is saying?” My problem was that both of them were quite unintelligible but being an innocent bystander I suppose I was accustomed to make an effort to understand which she, assumingly, wasn’t used to when talking to a person sharing her own native tounge. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/92 "2011-04-08T08:17:08Z")
jinty writes: \> 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. I think the attitude among some American posters here that “fortnight” is some bizarre unknown piece of terminology is exaggerated. Most reasonably well-read Americans recognize the word and know what it means, although they don’t use it themselves. I suspect that when you used the word in an E-mail, some people at first didn’t know what it meant, so they just asked someone else in the office who told that it meant “two weeks.” ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/93 "2011-04-08T08:40:41Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Monday week = Monday 18 April > Monday fortnight = Monday 25 April As a Native NE England ( not Geordie but Smoggie) I would invert these phrases such a week Monday = 18-04-11 a fortnight Monday =25-04-11 ---
**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 8, 2011, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/94 "2011-04-08T09:02:43Z")
I confirm that “Friday week” and “Friday fortnight” are common formations in Ireland. Next Friday is the 15th April. Friday week is the 22nd. Friday fortnight is the 29th. You may hear “Friday three weeks” and higher, but it’s rare because it takes too much mental arithmetic. I have pointed out elsewhere that there are many linguistic differences between the USAian language and English as it is spoken in other countries. This includes many words for everyday things, which have been impacted by other immigrant languages. Most other English speaking countries remained part of the British Empire after the Golgafrinchan\* colonists were persuaded to leave in the 1770’s. They had a unifying structure, which kept local deviations within narrow bounds, Without the impact of mass media and communications over the past century or so, it is likely that the USAian dialect would have morphed into a separate language. However, as a result of these links, we usually understand each others’ dialect words, even if we see them as quaint and do not use them in our daily speech. - Fnord - Damn, I’m letting the secret out. American readers ignore Golgafrinchan. Read American for Golgafrinchan. Fnord ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/95 "2011-04-08T09:45:03Z")
> [@inkling](#): > > A related question - I have seen in books written by English authors the construction “Wednesday-week” to mean “the Wednesday after the coming Wednesday” - and similar with -fortnight. I know what it means, and my family here in California use it and understand it, but I don’t think I have heard anyone else use it, ever. > > So - are \-week and -fortnight used anywhere else? The one that never fails to bemuse me is “next Sunday” (or whatever day) In Singapore this invariably means the coming day of the week. The meaning in New Zealand on the other hand is always…the Sunday after the the coming Sunday (or “Sunday week” if you prefer) It never fails to confuse me and make me do a double take. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/96 "2011-04-08T09:46:55Z")
> [@manila](#): > > As a Native NE England ( not Geordie but Smoggie) I would invert these phrases such > > a week Monday = 18-04-11 > a fortnight Monday =25-04-11 I’d normally say “a week on Monday” or “a fortnight on Monday”, same meaning though. ---
**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 8, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/97 "2011-04-08T16:52:47Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > The one that never fails to bemuse me is “next Sunday” (or whatever day) > > In Singapore this invariably means the coming day of the week. > > The meaning in New Zealand on the other hand is always…the Sunday after the the coming Sunday (or “Sunday week” if you prefer) > > It never fails to confuse me and make me do a double take. Here in SE Michigan, it means both, depending on what it is that you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/98 "2011-04-08T20:33:44Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Accents in NI vary quite a lot by region and social class though. There’s no “Northern Ireland” accent. There is one,that knackered I cant remember,that was so unintelligble ,that was probably from somewhere beginning with B,on the north west part of Ireland(actually I’m drunk as askunk) ---
**Author:** ![inkling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkling)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/99 "2011-04-09T06:54:53Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > The one that never fails to bemuse me is “next Sunday” (or whatever day) > > In Singapore this invariably means the coming day of the week. > > The meaning in New Zealand on the other hand is always…the Sunday after the the coming Sunday (or “Sunday week” if you prefer) > > It never fails to confuse me and make me do a double take. Around here, “next Sunday” can mean either. If Sunday is in the next day or two, though, it’s much more likely to mean the Sunday after the one coming up; and if is has just been Sunday within the last day or two, it’s likely to mean the Sunday which is coming up next. This ambiguity is exactly the reason I prefer constructions like “This coming Sunday” and “Sunday week.” Even better would be to say, “Sunday the 16th” (or whatever), but I am rarely together enough to do the math in my head as I am speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033/100 "2011-04-09T13:43:48Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > The same applies to any dialect sufficiently different to ones own. I can assure you that there are millions of English speakers around the world who would find you just as difficult to understand. > I’m sorry – could you possibly rephrase this as a coherent English sentence? > No. > > “Pure”? Pure what? I’m terribly sorry if I’ve hurt your feelings by being lighthearted about your accent. I have, and have had many friends from the northeast, and they have never been sensitive about the way that they speak, or us southerners pulling their leg about it. But we’re all individuals, and you obviously ARE sensitive about people indulging in a little light banter about speech habits. So can I just say, don’t take it to heart, it was not my intention to hurt your feelings. As to the millions of people around the world who’d find my accent difficult to understand, yes I’ve no doubt that they exist, but I just haven’t met them yet. I am an extremely experienced world traveller and have up to date never encountered anyone who has found my accent unintelligible, but they’re out there, they’re out there.. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fortnight-common-usage-in-britain/577033.md?page=6)