| Re: adjective form of decade |
Wanadoo, l'internet avec .. |
| John of Aix (j.murphy@nospamlibertysurf.fr) |
2004/05/27 00:34 |
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From: "John of Aix" <j.murphy@nospamlibertysurf.fr>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: adjective form of decade
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 08:34:14 +0200
Organization: Wanadoo, l'internet avec France Telecom
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> In article <c92p2r$ids$2@news-reader1.wanadoo.fr>, John of Aix
> <j.murphy@nospamlibertysurf.fr> wrote:
>
news:
> > 40b49d90$0$19642$626a14ce@news.free.fr...
> > >
> > > > I are a engineer.
> > > >
> > > > Is there an adjective form of the word decade? I want to describe
> > > > something that happens only once in ten years.
> > >
> > > "Decennial" is the word you need.
> > > Remember that "decade" implies 10 *days* not 10 years
> > > though many people seem to propagate the ill use :D)
> >
> > In French a decade is ten days strictly speaking and
> > a decan ten years, the exact opposite of English. The French are right
as
> > 'decade' comes from decadi (ten days) in Latin and decan from 'decanni'
> >
> I don't think it's a matter of right or wrong, just who uses what, and
> can the society you live in understand what you're saying. If I go up
> to anyone in the USA and say it's been a decade since I've seen my
> father, they are all going to think I haven't seen him in 10 years, not
> 10 days.
Oh I agree, there are plenty of words used 'wrongly' from an etymological
point of view, I meant that they were right in this sense, their use
reflects the etymology of the word.
> Plus, I thought the questioner was asking what 'decade' meant in
> English, not in French.
He was after the adjectival form.
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