Most units of time are easy enough to grasp. Day, week, hour. Yeah, got it. We learned that in first grade. But when it comes to more obscure terms, it’s easy to get confused. That’s why today we’re learning about fortnight and four score.
Fortnight = fourteen days (a.k.a. two weeks)
I think most Americans have heard of this term, though I suspect most of us are unaware of how long a fortnight actually is. Fortnight, which is derived from the Old English word fēowertyne niht, means “fourteen nights.” The term is much more common in Great Britain, which spread the term to New Zealand and Australia, among other countries.
Just for the heck of it, here’s a quote from one of my favorite linguists, Samuel Johnson, where he drops the fortnight bomb:
“When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
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Four Score = eighty
I think the main reason most of us these days have even heard of this antiquated term is because of Abraham Lincoln’s famous “Gettysburg Address,” which begins:
“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Here, the four score and seven years means eighty-seven years, and it refers to the amount of time that had passed at the time of the speech since our country was founded in 1776.
Using the terms
If you live in America and you ask, “Mind if I crash at your place for a fortnight?” you’re probably going to get some weird looks. Likewise, I doubt you will find a “Happy Four Score Birthday, Grandpa!” card at the drug store. So, I wouldn’t be too concerned about finding a way to incorporate these two terms into your regular vocabulary, but it does come in handy, every once in a while, to know what they mean.
Erin Servais is the founder of Dot and Dash, LLC, an author-services company focusing on women writers and offering a range of editing, coaching, and social media packages.
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Grammar Party 
I find it difficult to comprehend that black people and the rest of the colored peoples and the poor don’t realize that the Republican party is the same party that had been filmed laughing and giggling about how it was great to be rich and privileged white people and when Al Gore was elected then they would be back in control of taxes and they would get their taxes cut and finally having some good news. ..at Al Gore’s fund raising party..yes private. ..
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I agree totally. Trump is a liar.It has been proven that he has lied over 16,000 times since taking office. The Republican Party has sold their soul to the Devil. And, all they seem to care about power and money and they will do anything to keep both. Also, I do not understand how any women can support a man who was caught on camera
Saying “all you have to do is grab a women by the pussy and she’ll do anything – they like it”. He is a disgusting human being and dangerous to the very values this Country was built on. He instigates hatred against other races and why the religious right supports him I will never understand. They give Christianity and Christ in particular a bad name. This is not what He taught. He wanted us to love, forgive, have mercy and take care of those in need. Trump reminds me of what Hitler did to the German people in the late 1930’s. I am ashamed of the direction our Country is going. It is no longer the land of the free. It is the land of a very bigoted, racist power hungry Republican party.
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I find it even more difficult to comprehend that many people of color are unaware that it was the Republican party that first fought to end slavery, costing the life of Abraham Lincoln, it’s absolute best President. Equally a cause of incredulity is the ignorance by many of color to the fact that every Jim Crow law passed in the south and every attempt to strip them from the rights gained through the Civil War was a singular effort by Democrats and the Democrat party, without any Republican support. Finally, of special note is the Civil Rights act that was originally proposed by Republicans in the 1950’s when Democrats ruled the House of Representatives, but which they vehemently opposed until they could later claim almost identical legislation as their own. The politics of which are disgusting, as in democrats were more concerned about getting credit for the Act than giving civil rights to anyone when the opportunity presented itself years earlier. That is say nothing of the fact that they didn’t have the votes to get the earlier version passed anyway. What could have been a Bi-Partisan effort, uniting the country, instead became a manipulative ploy democrats used to label themselves the defenders of civil rights. What a farce!
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Clueless. The Republican Party from 150 years ago bares no resemblance to any political mutation of itself today. Really. Nixon. The beginning of hypocrisy distrust and questioning the morals of our political leaders. Smoke that.
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hi
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hello
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Greetings from the future!
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