Two Weeks?

Fortnight:
Main Entry: fort·night
Pronunciation: \ˈfȯrt-ˌnīt\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English fourtenight, alteration of fourtene night, from Old English fēowertȳne niht fourteen nights
Date: before 12th century
: a period of 14 days : two weeks

My small group meets fortnightly on Tuesday evenings. It is even published in the church notice sheet using this terminology. One evening, our group got into the following discussion quite by accident:

American (innocently speaking): You know, I don't think I've ever heard the word fortnightly used in the U.S. unless it was in British literature that was required reading when I was a senior in high school.

Brit (quite puzzled): Really? What would you say instead?

American (matter of factly): Two weeks.

Brit (astonished): Two weeks? Hmmm. That's rather interesting.

Oh the irony. To think it's "interesting" to use the definition of the word - which I do think is more descriptive - instead of the word. I must admit though, fortnightly sounds so much more literary. It's now my word of choice.

P.S. Another interesting tidbit - this conversation also revealed that they were quite fascinated that Americans devote an entire year of secondary school English classes to British literature. Apparently, it's not a reciprocal arrangement. But it does make me feel quite well read!