Austen questions Volume 1???

[iwannahorn]

Hi there, I am on a Jane Austen kick. I went to the library at lunch and picked up a few books.

Help me understand timing during this era.

What the heck is a fortnight?

How old is this man? The wording is this...."A man of six or seven-and-twenty can take care of himself"

Thank you my well educated friends.

Comments

[mag1]

A fortnight is about 2 weeks - or fourteen nights.

...."A man of six or seven-and-twenty can take care of himself"
Would be 26 or 27.

[pink_hammer]

Fortnight is used all the time here - I was so confused when we developed questionnaires for the US and we had to change them all because they didn't use the word.

[christinefalls]

A fortnight is fourteen nights. :)

And I imagine six and twenty is 26. seven and twenty is 27. I think.