Editing 1602: Linguistics Club

{{comic
| number    = 1602
| date      = November 11, 2015
| title     = Linguistics Club
| image     = linguistics_club.png
| titletext = If that's too easy, you could try joining Tautology Club, which meets on the date of the Tautology Club meeting.
}}

==Explanation==
A "[[wiktionary:sesquiannual|sesquiannual]]" meeting is one that occurs one and a half times every year; equivalently, 3 times every 2 years, or once every 8 months. It comes from the Latin prefix "[[wiktionary:sesqui|sesqui-]]", which directly means "a half and…", and "[[wiktionary:annual|annual]]", which equates to "…one (per) year".

The joke suggests that only a competent linguist could understand the word “sesquiannual”. One reason for this is that the prefix “sesqui-” is rare, so those who know its meaning are likely to be linguists. Another is that a competent linguist should be able to distinguish between “sesquiannual” and “sesquiennial”.

“Sesquiannual” is not to be confused with “[[wiktionary:sesquiennial|sesquiennial]]”, meaning "a half and one years (per…)" or every one and a half years (18 months). Note that the Wikitonary entry on sesquiannual has both meanings listed – both 8 month and 18 months intervals. This is an extension of the common confusion between "biannual," meaning "twice a year", and "biennial", meaning "once every two years". Compare with the {{w|Sesquicentennial Exposition}} celebrating the first 1&frac12; centuries of the United States, and "sesqui''bi''centennial", being 'half and two' hundred years, i.e. 250.

This confusion is related to the distinction between 'biweekly' and 'semiweekly'. In the absence of an equivalent "-ennial"/"-annial" distinction, 'biweekly' ''might'' mean either twice per week or once every two weeks, whilst semiweekly is strictly maintained as once every half-week, i.e., the former. There's a similar problem with bimonthly (possibly twice a month, but nominally every two months) and semimonthly (always twice per month).

However, even the very slight difference in spelling and pronunciation of 'biannual' and 'biennial' doesn't help. 'Biannual' is not the same as 'biennial'/'semiannual', but is all too easily used in this way. It is normally advised that an alternate term such as 'fortnightly' (once every two weeks) or a direct statement such as 'twice a year' should be used, to remove ambiguity in normal communication.

A common method of having meetings "on the first and third Monday of every month" is strictly twice-monthly but also mostly, and ironically, once every two weeks; though three-week gaps occur when 'five Monday' month rolls over to the next, four or five times a year. But everyone should at least be able to understand the schedule, just from a cursory glance at a calendar.

The society in the comic, however, deliberately instills an ambiguity for those outside their target demographic. Their membership will thus swell with the desired cognoscenti who remain unconfused, and maybe also a few lucky guessers.

Regarding the title text, a {{w|tautology (rhetoric)|tautology}} is a statement that is true (or self-evident) because of its logical form, such as "all birds are birds" or "A = A." As such, the statement "the Tautology Club meets on the date of the Tautology Club's meeting" is itself tautological.

Once the applicant correctly understands the frequency of meetings, presumably they are told at least one meeting date in the cycle so that an attendance can be made. Another possibility is that there are literally one and a half meetings per year, because every third meeting spans midnight on December 31/January 1.

While the membership requirement for the original club is merely to know the intended frequency, Tautology Club's stipulation appears to require an eligible member to derive a valid meeting date from thin air without any clue at all (and no indication that there is even a regular cycle of any kind). This would definitely be more of a challenge.

The title text has a connection to [[703: Honor Societies]] in which Cueball announces that “the first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.”

==Transcript==
:[Megan talks to Ponytail.]
:Megan: You should come to our Linguistics Club's sesquiannual meeting.
:Megan: Membership is open to anyone who can figure out how often we meet.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Language]]