A set of fifteen units is called a fortnight . Generally the term is used to refer to a period of fifteen days .
A month of thirty days, therefore, is divided into two fortnights. Thus we can speak of the first fortnight and the second fortnight , distinguishing exactly between the first half and the second half of the month in question.
By extension, the payment that a company makes to its employees every fifteen days is called a fortnight. In this case, the salary is not paid once a month, but is divided in two and the worker is paid at the beginning and in the middle of the period.
For example: "Tomorrow I'm going to get paid the fortnight, so I'll take the opportunity to go to the market to buy groceries" , "We have to go talk to the boss: it can't be that they haven't paid us the fortnight yet" , "I spent my fortnight in just two days because I had several accumulated debts .
It is important to keep in mind that, since not all months have thirty days, the fortnight can have between thirteen and sixteen days . Typically, the first fortnight is considered to be from the 1st to the 15th , while the second fortnight extends from the 16th to the 28th , 29th , 30th or 31st , as the case may be. The notion, in this framework, continues to be used even if the number of days is not equal to fifteen.
When the term fortnight is used to talk about a quantity, whether of objects or subjects, it may seem relatively arbitrary, although no more than ten , dozen or hundred , among others of similar meaning. Although in some cases it does not represent the exact amount, as occurs with the division of months into two groups of days, it can give the sentence a character of greater importance than if we use the number directly.
Let's think about a case of a wave of robberies that has taken place in a given neighborhood. When the media begins their coverage, they approach the area in question and, once they have collected all the necessary data, they prepare to transmit the news to their audience. If they say "this situation has already affected fifteen families," the intensity perceived is less than when using the expression "about fifteen families." Something similar would happen with "a ten" or "a hundred."
The language does not force us to use either of the two alternatives, since both are correct, but there are certain ideas or appreciations implicit in the words that represent the values themselves, because they give the sensation of astonishment on the part of the speaker, as if said "can you believe that it has already affected fifteen families?" The number is cold, it is nothing more than a value, a figure; The noun fortnight , on the other hand, is the result of having analyzed "how much fifteen is equivalent to", and therefore carries a more emotional nuance.
The San Sebastián Musical Fortnight , finally, is one of the oldest musical festivals on the European continent . It was born in 1939 and, since then, it has been carried out in San Sebastián ( Basque Country ).
The emergence of this festival took place thanks to the merchants and hoteliers of San Sebastián, who wanted to offer summer season tourists a richer catalog of activities . Every year, the Musical Fortnight has various cycles. The organ , for example, has brought together performers from all over the world since 1983 to celebrate this instrument through recitals and courses. In 1995, on the other hand, the Andante Fortnight began, which takes some of its proposals to other locations on an itinerant basis.