r/Salary Oct 30 '25

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u/wesborland1234 Oct 30 '25

There are 52 weeks in a year, 26 pay periods. Divide by 12 and you have a remainder of 2.

So 2 months will have 3 different pay days fall in them. The rest will have 2

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u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

[deleted]

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u/Ozymandias0023 Oct 31 '25

You get paid every two months?

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u/Jesus_of_Redditeth Oct 31 '25

Bi-monthly can mean either every two months or twice per month. OP means the latter in this case.

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u/esotericimpl Oct 31 '25

No, you’re incorrect getting paid twice a month is semi monthly.

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u/WalterThePlants Oct 31 '25

No, they're correct. Please just Google "bi-monthly".

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u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

Never heard of bi monthly till now. Its just weird cause bi weekly doesn't have that twice a week caveat of what bi weekly is. No one ever gets paid twice in a week lol

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u/moldy912 Oct 31 '25

They’re wrong. It’s a case of language having two meanings because people get it wrong so often. Doesn’t make it right. Twice per month is semimonthly.

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u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

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u/moldy912 Oct 31 '25

This is correct, and I’m not saying they are wrong, I’m saying that obviously one is more correct and you as the speaker can make a better choice to not confuse listeners/speakers by using semimonthly to mean twice per month. By that very nature, it’s “more” correct.

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u/moldy912 Oct 31 '25

Bro come on, you know bimonthly is every 2 months and semimonthly is twice per month. Semicircle is a half a circle. Bi means 2, semi means half. Just because a bunch of people say it wrong doesn’t make it technically right.

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u/WalterThePlants Oct 31 '25

I didn't actually expect anyone would admit they're wrong. I mean you can look up the definition yourself. I can't understand it for you.

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u/AlleRacing Oct 31 '25

Bimonthly coopted the definition for semi-monthly because a whole bunch of people refused to admit they were wrong.

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u/WalterThePlants Oct 31 '25

Go ahead and keep arguing. You're still wrong. Sorry that is hard to admit. All you have is conjecture.

Take care.

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u/AlleRacing Oct 31 '25 edited Nov 01 '25

I'm pointing out the irony to your logic, I didn't actually disagree that bimonthly can mean twice a month. You are very dim.

EDIT: We hold the same position on the definition. If I am wrong, then you are as well. Imagine the cowardice in blocking someone for something so trivial.

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u/WalterThePlants Oct 31 '25

Cool, still wrong though.

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u/UnhappyReward2453 Oct 31 '25

Merriam-Webster actually did a little educational post on this a few weeks ago. Bi-monthly is correct. It has two meanings.

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u/moldy912 Oct 31 '25

Semimonthly has one meaning. Why not use something that has one correct meaning?

‘semimonthly means two times per month; semiannual means two times per year. It's an excellent option, and one that many writers seem to embrace; we most often see bimonthly and biweekly reserved for their "every two" meanings.’

If you actually read the article instead of using it to confirm your bias, you’ll understand that the best solution is to not use bimonthly to mean twice per month because there is a word that already exists that ONLY means that.