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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage
Six-month anniversary?
Our mostly-wonderful CBC just dropped a clanger:
"the six-month anniversary of...".
Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since the event being commemorated/celebrated/remembered? Or is this a harbinger of future general acceptance of meaning change?
However, I'm temporarily at a loss to suggest a mellifluous alternative.
John W Hall (Email Removed)
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada.
"Helping People Prosper in the Information Age"
"the six-month anniversary of...".
Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since the event being commemorated/celebrated/remembered? Or is this a harbinger of future general acceptance of meaning change?
However, I'm temporarily at a loss to suggest a mellifluous alternative.
John W Hall (Email Removed)
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada.
"Helping People Prosper in the Information Age"
Top answer
". Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since the event being commemorated/celebrated/remembered? [/nq] It's no harbinger, but only because the meaning has already changed.
- ".
- Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since the event being commemorated/celebrated/remembered?
- [/nq] It's no harbinger, but only because the meaning has already changed.
- " Like it or not, the word is now used for the passage of time periods as short as a week.
- Usage doesn't necessarily match up to etymology.
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32 Answers
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[nq:1]Our mostly-wonderful CBC just dropped a clanger: "the six-month anniversary of...". Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since the event being commemorated/celebrated/remembered? Or is this a harbinger of future general acceptance of meaning change?[/nq]
It's no harbinger, but only because the meaning has already changed.
[nq:1]However, I'm temporarily at a loss to s
It's no harbinger, but only because the meaning has already changed.
[nq:1]However, I'm temporarily at a loss to s
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John Hall filted:
[nq:1]Our mostly-wonderful CBC just dropped a clanger: "the six-month anniversary of...". Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since the event being commemorated/celebrated/remembered? Or is this a harbinger of future general acceptance of meaning change?[/nq]
Future, indeed...I've heard references to a "two-week" anniversary..
[nq:1]However, I'm temp
[nq:1]Our mostly-wonderful CBC just dropped a clanger: "the six-month anniversary of...". Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since the event being commemorated/celebrated/remembered? Or is this a harbinger of future general acceptance of meaning change?[/nq]
Future, indeed...I've heard references to a "two-week" anniversary..
[nq:1]However, I'm temp
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[nq:1]Before knocking yourself on a search for some alternative, have a look at what the dictionaries say about "anniversary." Like ... for the passage of time periods as short as a week. Usage doesn't necessarily match up to etymology. Witness "decimate."[/nq]
I'd suggest again that this is not a good enough answer. Now used, OK, but by whom? Where? In which ling. environments exactly? Which
I'd suggest again that this is not a good enough answer. Now used, OK, but by whom? Where? In which ling. environments exactly? Which
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Tain't in OED 2nd - they cling tenaciously to the annual business. A quick browse through OneLook suggests the same of others. Can you cite a dictionary with a different approach?
John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply
John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply
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[nq:1]John Hall filted:[/nq]
snip
[nq:2]However, I'm temporarily at a loss to suggest a mellifluous alternative.[/nq]
[nq:1]"Sixth mensiversary"?...r[/nq]
Surely that's way too easy to mistake for a sexist term (cf. ***..)
Cheers, Harvey
...sstruggling not to use a winking thingie...
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for t
[nq:2]However, I'm temporarily at a loss to suggest a mellifluous alternative.[/nq]
[nq:1]"Sixth mensiversary"?...r[/nq]
Surely that's way too easy to mistake for a sexist term (cf. ***..)
Cheers, Harvey
...sstruggling not to use a winking thingie...
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for t
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[nq:1]Our mostly-wonderful CBC just dropped a clanger: "the six-month anniversary of...". Surely "anniversary" means some whole number of years since ... a harbinger of future general acceptance of meaning change? However, I'm temporarily at a loss to suggest a mellifluous alternative.[/nq]
Isn't what people have always said as simple as "exactly six months ago, on 10 April. . ."?
**
R
Isn't what people have always said as simple as "exactly six months ago, on 10 April. . ."?
**
R
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[nq:2]It's no harbinger, but only because the meaning has already ... week. Usage doesn't necessarily match up to etymology. Witness "decimate."[/nq]
[nq:1]Tain't in OED 2nd - they cling tenaciously to the annual business. A quick browse through OneLook suggests the same of others. Can you cite a dictionary with a different approach?[/nq]
*Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,* 11th ed.
[nq:1]Tain't in OED 2nd - they cling tenaciously to the annual business. A quick browse through OneLook suggests the same of others. Can you cite a dictionary with a different approach?[/nq]
*Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,* 11th ed.
00
[nq:2]Tain't in OED 2nd - they cling tenaciously to the ... others. Can you cite a dictionary with a different approach?[/nq]
[nq:1]*Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,* 11th ed.: (quote, from entry "anniversary") 1 : the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable ... specified period of time measured in units other than years (end quote)[/nq]
Coming right up: eight-month semester
[nq:1]*Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,* 11th ed.: (quote, from entry "anniversary") 1 : the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable ... specified period of time measured in units other than years (end quote)[/nq]
Coming right up: eight-month semester
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[nq:1]Coming right up: eight-month semesters, ten-day fortnights, seven-year decades and eighty-three-year centuries.[/nq]
You forgot the forty-hours week and the eight-hours day.
Best regards
Steffen
You forgot the forty-hours week and the eight-hours day.
Best regards
Steffen
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[nq:2]Coming right up: eight-month semesters, ten-day fortnights, seven-year decades and eighty-three-year centuries.[/nq]
[nq:1]You forgot the forty-hours week and the eight-hours day.[/nq]
English idiom is not to pluralise "unit" nouns, so we say: the eight hour day, the forty hour week, the six foot man, the four stone cat. I'm not convinced by those hyphens either.
David
=
[nq:1]You forgot the forty-hours week and the eight-hours day.[/nq]
English idiom is not to pluralise "unit" nouns, so we say: the eight hour day, the forty hour week, the six foot man, the four stone cat. I'm not convinced by those hyphens either.
David
=
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