Originally Posted by: Jolly McJollysonYou can tell your friend it's the triad half, next time, and THAT's how you halve a chord, haha.

What my friend said was more of a joke than a serious comment. But he does have an interesting point - half a four note chord is two notes - so which two notes make it half diminished? If, as you suggest, you use the triad, you are isolating 3 of the 4 notes in the chord - 75% instead of 50%.

Not that any of this silliness matters, of course. :p The chord still is what it is. I call it "minor 7 flat 5" most of the time. The only time I use "half diminished" is when discussing it in terms of classical voice leading.