The last word

Earlier today Brian was reading something in German and commented that he always had to look up the word regelmäßig. I asked him what it meant and he read out the list of English words.

Regelmäßig: constant; continuous; measured; periodic.

I complained that I didn't like words that could have two opposite meanings. How could a word mean both "constant" and "periodic". So I looked up "periodic" to make sure I wasn't using it incorrectly.

Periodic: recurring at intervals of time; occurring at regular intervals; repeated at irregular intervals.

I didn't like it that periodic could sometimes mean occurring at regular intervals and sometimes mean occurring at irregular intervals? That's when Brian brought up semi-annual and bi-annual and how both mean occurring twice a year. Which is confusing enough, but add to it that bi-annual can also mean occurring every two years and then things get really confusing.

As I continued to complain about words that had two opposite meanings, Brian said that you can tell the meaning based on context. A bi-annual sale would most likely occur twice a year while a bi-annual sports event would occur every two years. What about a bi-annual family reunion, I asked. Every two years, Brian answered. What if it wasn't really a family reunion but really just a get together but someone called it a reunion because words often have more than one meaning, I asked. Every two years, Brian answered. And then someone got mad -- but I don't really remember who.

It may have been me.

I took the computer so I could look up words. And Brian asked me what I was going to try to prove. And I said maybe I wasn't going to prove anything. I was just going to write a blog post.