(no subject)

[thatotherperv]

"Hey, alternating current...why don't you just admit you're bi?"
--and this is, in a nutshell, why I heart Stephen Colbert




so, random quiz of the day. You're reading something set in present-day or...you know, sometime after the invention of the horseless buggy, and the author describes the passage of time with the term "fortnight."

[Poll #1145998]

Comments

[laisserais]

i was just saying that i'm feeling lazy and don't want to do anything, and here you are, with an awesome distraction! yay!

well, here's my question: what's the context? like...are they amish? scottish? some other group of people who might conceivably still use a term like 'fortnight' in 2008? or are they canon characters, situated in a time/place where 'fortnight' is anachronistic?

also, man i'm running out of slots, but i SO need to upload at least one of the JS/SC icons where they're naked. yesssss.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

modern-day spn wincest. no real reason at all to use fortnight, other than maybe the other thought it was shiny and made them look fancy.

hee! I saved some but haven't uploaded. I need to do a icon-changeout pretty soon, but first I have to make it through Monday and not flunk respiratory physiology. glad to provide distraction :)

[laisserais]

Hee. you guys say 'fortnight'? like, in everyday sentences? neat! i never knew that.

[cordelianne.livejournal.com]

heee to "horseless buggy"! I voted for "notice but don't care" but I think it would depend on the context. For example, I would really enjoy "fortnight" if it was used in a fun way, like say a character saying something about a fortnight and another character saying "Fortnight? Who says that anymore?!" But if it was used in some weird random way, I may not like it (but again it would depend on context). :D

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

:D is it dorky beyond words to admit I made *myself* snicker with horseless buggy?

yeah, context definitely matters. in some circumstances it's totally useful, but probably not from the mouth of an american unless they're like...a high school theater kid going through a Phase.

[ex-dark-ami.livejournal.com]

Well we use it all the time over here so I'd probably not notice.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

yeeeaaaahhhh, this is something that didn't occur to me when I made the post. *facepalm*

[shapinglight]

What's wrong with fortnight? We use it all the time this side of the Pond.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

yeeeaaaahhhh, this is something that didn't occur to me when I made the post. *facepalm*

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

Yes, I've noticed before that some Americans don't even know what the word means. We use it all the time here, a very standard word.

The one I think of as a really old fashioned word is sennight - 'seven night', i.e. a week.

[tamibrandt.livejournal.com]

Hey now, I'm one American who knows what a fortnight and a sennight is. LOL

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

Oh I'm sure masses of you have big vocabularies! Didn't mean to imply otherwise. But I get the impression that it's not an everyday word like it is over here - here it would be weird to say 'two weeks' instead of 'a fortnight'. And I have definitely seen Americans who don't know what fortnight means.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

yeeeaaaahhhh, this is something that didn't occur to me when I made the post. *facepalm* it's one of those things, the author of the fic was probably european, now that I think about it. I'm sure I fuck up spike's colloquialisms all the time, haha.

[felisblanco.livejournal.com]

Well, I learned British English at school and use it all the time. Doesn't sound strange to me. I guess it's one of those cultural differences things. I probably wouldn't let the American characters say it but I wouldn't hesitate using it in describing time passed by.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

yeeeaaaahhhh, this is something that didn't occur to me when I made the post. *facepalm*

[toobusy2write.livejournal.com]

I put 'notice but don't care', although it's more situational, for me. Depends on the context, really. If it's just a normal fic and there's no reason for it (i.e. the person isn't European or quoting something), yeah, it would bother me because it'd take me right of the fic, you know? But if it was used as a joke or whatever, that's different.

Also, I'd probably be less likely to be bugged by it just being used randomly if I knew the writer was European because I know there's got to be times I write Spike's dialog/thoughts and use Americanisms they find odd because they're not used over there, lol.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

context is definitely important, though it's more of a pet peeve than it should be, haha. if there's absolutely no reason, it sorta drive me batshit. just one of those things :)

and yeah, I try to eliminate the americanisms, but some things are just so ingrained

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

yeeeaaaahhhh, this is something that didn't occur to me when I made the post. *facepalm*

[ash-carpenter.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....Maybe I'm just being really dumb or REALLY British, but I think you need another answer to your poll, along the lines of "What the hell is wrong with the word fortnight?"

Over here it is in everyday usage and I didn't realise that wasn't the case everywhere! How do other people describe the passage of two weeks...? *is genuinely puzzled*

Then again, where I'm from, the horseless buggy is a fairly snazzy invention ;-)

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

yeeeaaaahhhh, this is something that didn't occur to me when I made the post. *facepalm*

we just say 2 weeks :) and hee! snazzy, indeed.

[ldyavalon.livejournal.com]

I LIKE the word. My Nanny (grandmother) used it all the time. I can vaguely even remember the first time I asked her what it meant.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

awwww! that's sweet.

[spikesgurl.livejournal.com]

Call me a stupid American, but I've never been exactly sure how long that is...

Oh and Stephen... you rock :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

It's two weeks. A contraction of 'fourteen nights'.

[spikesgurl.livejournal.com]

Ahh, that makes sense. Thanks :)

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

What on earth's wrong with the word fortnight? I couldn't tick any box because fortnight is just a word in common usage. You don't have it in America? What do you call 2 period of 2 weeks then?

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

I find the whole 'divided by a common language' thing fascinating. I love it when I discover differences like this. It never occurred to me that it was not a word in common usage in North America (or is it just not used in the US?)
Thank you for asking the question.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

I know, right? it seems as though they are endless, even within the US. every time I move to a different region of the country, I have to relearn the way people refer to things. and yup, it's not at all in common usage here...mainly just used in a historical context.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

lol. see, score would bug me in the same way :) *smooch*

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

*snickers*

[1more-sickpuppy.livejournal.com]

To elaborate, "fortnight" only bothers me if I feel the characters saying it, shouldn't be. Like Sam or Dean. They're just too young and American. On the other hand, they're sure to hang out with some odd people, and read ancient books and shit, so their supernatural sphere might prompt the to pick up such a word and accidentally start using it themselves.

Mr. Colbert gets some love for that, yes he does!

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

oh yeha definitely. and good point on their experience differing from normal american twenty-somethings, though I still doubt they'd use it.

hee, I love stephen madly.

[shapinglight]

Hi Mel. Just come back to say that in view of the difference of opinion over the use of this word, it's fascinating to me to see yet again how we can sort of speak the same language and yet not, and also how those languages diverge.

Blimey, in a couple of hundred years' time, the languages may have diverged so much they're not mutually comprehensible at all. What a worrying thought!

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

yes, definitely. language differences and colloquial variation are fascinating. I was telling thismaz, even within the US, it varies so widely.

this is one of those instances that caught me with my pants down, lol. I don't remember my brit friends using it in RL, but maybe I just never noticed.