Bye, Bimonthly
And we should say goodbye to the term bimonthly, because it can get us into trouble.
Sometimes we ask the working adults in our writing classes this questions: "If a magazine is published bimonthly, how many issues come out each year?"
About a third of the answers say six, a third say twenty-four, and a third say they aren't sure. Which answer is right? Although most publications that call themselves bimonthly come out every two months, our sympathies are with the people who weren't sure how to answer.
Why? Because the word bimonthly is used both ways—to mean twice monthly, and every two months. And you can find both definitions in some good dictionaries.
So what should you do? If you choose one of the definitions, you're in danger of misleading your readers unless you use some additional words to explain what you mean. If you do that, why bother to use the word at all?
Unless you're sure your readers—all of them—will know what you mean, it's a good idea to avoid the term altogether. Just use other words to say what you mean—words like every two months, or every two weeks, or twice monthly.
Posted by Dave at 10/8/2011 3:00 PM 
Categories: Teaching, language
Tags: Bimonthly LandaBooks Language speech definition
Categories: Teaching, language
Tags: Bimonthly LandaBooks Language speech definition
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