3/31/09

Brit' Word of the Day

Todays BWOTD is used all the time by us Brit's:

"I was hoping we could do it in a fortnight"

'Fortnight' = Two weeks

I always get totally confused looks from everyone if I use it here, except the Hubster who is in on the translation and hears it regularly. Now if I can just get him using it too maybe it will take off, as it really is a great word.

13 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

I'm always hearing fortnight on time period films and never can remember exactly how long they're talking about. Thanks for clearing up that little confusion! :^)

Smitten by Britain said...

The word that gets me crazy looks is peckish. I kept having to explain what it meant. Suddenly it dawned on me that the word might be another one that entered my vocabulary during my days in England. Sure enough, looked it up and it's of British origin and not used in America. Those moments make me feel disoriented and I find myself asking "where am I again?"

A Brit in Tennessee said...

I was once working at Mountain Bell Telephone in Colorado, in personell. I couldn't figure out, why potential job seekers would never call back, to see if they were hired, as instructed.
I was telling this to my director one day, and she asked what time-frame I had given them, to make that call back, I told her "a fortnight". That's It, she said, nobody knows what a fortnight is over here....oops.
Every fourteenth night.

Liz Hinds said...

Really? They don't use fortnight? Well, I never.

Kat said...

Thankfully I knew what a fortnight was before I moved here...thank you trashy romance novels.

Daryl said...

I love this word and I actually use it ... I am sure I picked it up from some womderful British mystery or other ..

Tell me how to pronounce the word: WHILST .. I insist its WILL-st and Husband insists its WHILE-st

Expat mum said...

Did you know that Brits also used to say a s'ennight, which was seven nights. (That was way back in old Shakespeare's days though.)

Mmm said...

Now that's a word I actually still say even after being here yonks.

Sarah said...

ok so here is my boss who has an amazing story about coming to America...he has just started blogging about it...it's in three parts, but check it out!!

http://peterrabot.blogspot.com/2009/03/coming-to-america.html

Lynn said...

I've frequently heard "fortnight" in movies. I just thought it was an archaic word. I didn't realize it was still used a lot in Britain. How cool!

It's common enough that everyone should know what it means.

Kay said...

I used to see that all the time in the Regency novels (I was hooked on those for a while) and got confused. It sounds like fourth night so 2 weeks didn't seem easy to remember.

Unknown said...

I have heard the word before in movies and read it in books, usually ones based in the 1800's. Good word. Thanks.

Winifred said...

Oh how can you not use it? Occasionally I say "in a couple of weeks" but I never say "in two weeks".

When I hear people ask if they can use the bathroom in American films I often think "Surely they don't want a bath in someone else's house"? Does every bathroom have a loo in it?

We do have some strange words don't we! But then I suppose every country has. Thanks for reminding us Sarah.