Karma is a removed!

  • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    2 days ago

    The English language is scuffed; due to misunderstandings we end up with seemingly opposite words now being used interchangeably to mean the same thing:

    • flammable and inflammable, now both usually mean something can be set alight.
    • biannual and semiannual, both mean twice a year and once every two years - which is even more confusing.

    It’s at the point where if you can’t derive the intended definition from context, you need to ask for clarification! 🤦🏻‍♂️

    In this context, I’m pretty sure the commenter was referring to twice-a-month payment. Here in Australia we would call that fortnightly (once every two weeks), where we end up with a scenario where twice a year we end up with 3 payments (for a total of 26 a year). This tends to be more common for hourly wages roles.

    It’s been a hot minute since I was paid like that, as corporate salaried positions now tend to be monthly - in order to keep things simple for the HR and Finance teams, and honestly helps people like me to learn/maintain better fiscal responsibility and budgeting.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 days ago

      “Flammable” was invented specifically to avoid confusion with “inflammable.”

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      biannual and semiannual, both mean twice a year and once every two years - which is even more confusing.

      No! Bad! Do not encourage this! Like biweekly, biannually is every two years.

      • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 days ago

        I’m not encouraging it, it’s actually one of my biggest pet peeves!

        I can understand why given how rarely they’re used, people get confused between semi-annual and biannual - especially since things happening every ~6 months is a more common occurrence than every ~24.

        In a world where possible/impossible is simple to understand, why is flammable/inflammable confusing!?

        Don’t even get me started on “literally” - I want to bang my head against my desk every time I hear it misused.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        Biweekly is fortnightly. Every two weeks. I.e. Every other Thursday.

        Semi-monthly would be twice a month, i.e. the 1st and the 15th.

        26 biweekly paychecks in a year…24 semimonthly paychecks in a year.

      • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        JasonDJ did a good job at explaining the what, the why would be down to cost-cutting. There are fixed costs associated with putting out payroll (beyond man hours required, there are processing fees etc.); so opting for 2/month instead of fortnightly saves you ~10% in fixed costs.

          • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            2 days ago

            In general, because the transition puts too much of a financial strain on hourly/wage staff - they tend to live paycheque to paycheque and would struggle to be able to wait an additional 2-3 weeks for their pay to come through.

            Besides risking possible staff revolt, it would also make hiring staff much more difficult if new employees learned during induction they might have to wait 5 weeks to be paid!

                • lime!@feddit.nu
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  2 days ago

                  paying out once a month. even when i worked an hourly job at a restaurant we got paid monthly.

                  • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    2 days ago

                    I guess it depends on what is seen as the norm in a particular country. In Australia, it’s most common for hourly wages to be paid either weekly or fortnightly - and I believe it’s a similar case in North America also.

                    Given they only the companies stand to benefit from paying employees less frequently, it makes it harder for those companies to compete for quality labour (without then offering a higher hourly rate, negating any benefit for them to do so).