# I think we need a new word **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061 "2024-06-19T18:01:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/1 "2024-06-19T18:01:48Z")
Say you have a terrible boss at work, who is close to retirement age. You figure that you can hold out until he leaves. You can outlive him or outlast him. But what if you see a situation in the future, and figure that you won’t be around before it hits. (More and more the case as you age.) Is there a word for that? This is inspired by reading a paper about the impact of quantum computers on computer security. It is not good. I want to write a column about this, and I want to say while it is a problem it won’t affect me since I’ll be long gone before quantum computers get cheap enough and plentiful enough to crack codes outside of NSA. Climate change is another example. I won’t be around to see the worst of it. I know full well that this is a selfish attitude to take, but what goes into the sentence “I will climate change”? Any ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/2 "2024-06-19T18:31:44Z")
[_Après moi, le déluge_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apr%C3%A8s_moi,_le_d%C3%A9luge) ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/3 "2024-06-19T18:48:28Z")
- somebody else’s problem. - buckpassing. - bystander effect in line with Peter’s apt rejoinder: antediluvian. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/4 "2024-06-19T19:34:53Z")
[Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nie_m%C3%B3j_cyrk,_nie_moje_ma%C5%82py) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/5 "2024-06-19T19:50:32Z")
Kick the can. Deferred maintenance. Forbearance, kinda? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/6 "2024-06-19T20:02:00Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Climate change is another example. I won’t be around to see the worst of it. I know full well that this is a selfish attitude to take, but what goes into the sentence “I will climate change”? It looks as though you’re after a verb, yes? If so, the best I can think of at the moment is “predecease”. Which typically means dying before someone else does, but could be understood as dying before any other particular event, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/7 "2024-06-19T23:26:33Z")
The classic phrase is “I won’t live to see [whatever]”, be that something wondrous or disastrous. A single word to fill that hole. Hmm. “Predecease” is close but that really means “I’ll die before [other living individual X] dies”, not “I’ll die before [event X] occurs.” Can we turn it around and find a word for that? Not “I’ll die before [event X] occurs.” but rather “[Event X] will occur after I die”? How about “I’ll predate Event X” or “Event X will postdate me?” It’s a stretch of the usual meaning of pre- and post-date, but mostly because we’re really making “I/me” stand in for “my remaining lifetime / my date of death” It’s stretching the subject / object noun, not really the verb. But the stretch is because of the verb. No good answers in this post, but some musings that might launch some smarter folks in unexpected and fruitful directions. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/8 "2024-06-20T17:40:05Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > _Après moi, le déluge_ That implies the person is holding off the flood. It works nicely for situations like when you retire while spinning ten plates, and you know things will go to hell without you. Not so much when you have not much to do with the problem. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > How about “I’ll predate Event X” or “Event X will postdate me?” It’s a stretch of the usual meaning of pre- and post-date, but mostly because we’re really making “I/me” stand in for “my remaining lifetime / my date of death” It’s stretching the subject / object noun, not really the verb. But the stretch is because of the verb. That’s the gist of what I’m looking for, but not quite a verb. That’s okay, I’d hope to have seen such a verb. That’s okay, it makes up for finding out that there was already a word, claustrophilic, for people like me who love getting into MRI machines.None of the MRI staff had ever heard of it, but it exists. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/9 "2024-06-20T17:51:48Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > somebody else’s problem That was the first thing that came to mind for me, remembering the Hitchhiker’s Guide series and the technology that generated an SEP field so that you could move around without being accosted since nobody pays any attention to you. Wikipedia even has an article about the SEP effect, and mentions the SEP field generator. > **[Somebody else's problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_else%27s_problem)** > > "Somebody else's problem" or "someone else's problem" is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it. > A 1976 edition of the journal Ekistics used the phrase in the context of bureaucratic inaction on low-income housing, describing "the principle of somebody else's problem" as something that prevented progress. Where responsibility for a complex problem falls across many different departments of government, even those agencies w... That article cites a 1976 journal which discusses the phenomenon and says it is one reason why low-income housing doesn’t get prioritized by governments. Though I will say the phenomenon as laid out in the OP here has an additional element, which is a bit more specific; it is someone else’s problem specifically due to time. I think “kicking the can” is a bit more apt for that; it’s someone else’s problem because you won’t be around to have to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/10 "2024-06-20T18:10:19Z")
ETA: nm ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/11 "2024-06-20T18:19:29Z")
Prevoidance? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/12 "2024-06-20T21:41:04Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > That implies the person is holding off the flood. It works nicely for situations like when you retire while spinning ten plates, and you know things will go to hell without you. Not so much when you have not much to do with the problem. I always took it to mean, “I don’t care what happens after I’m dead. Let the floods come.” ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/13 "2024-06-20T21:43:49Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > But what if you see a situation in the future, and figure that you won’t be around before it hits. (More and more the case as you age.) Is there a word for that? SOL … 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/14 "2024-06-20T22:03:00Z")
SEP does sound like a re-tread of the expression “Let George Do It,” which was so common in the 20th C. that the beleaguered Marines on Guadalcanal [made their own medal for it.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faciat_Georgius) Where the OP’s concerns are being shrugged off as not entirely likely, or due to nihilism (as in the current meme “my retirement plan is total societal collapse”), the term is “Cassandra.” To gain gravitas and avoid sounding like a hyperventilating alarmist, one should be calm in balance to one’s dire predictions: be a laconic Laocoon. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/15 "2024-06-21T15:20:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Prevoidance? I like it. Or “mortvoidance”? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/16 "2024-06-21T16:51:02Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions. I haven’t heard “Let George do it” for years. The president of one club I was in was named George, and he complained about always having to do it. I’m thinking less of avoiding work but avoiding the consequences of an inevitable catastrophe. I live in the Bay Area, a mile or two from the Hayward fault, on which a big earthquake is long overdue. Every year that goes by I figure it is more likely that I’ll be gone before it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/17 "2024-06-21T17:09:10Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > > _Après moi, le déluge_ > > That implies the person is holding off the flood. No. It means: there is probably a flood coming in the future, but it will happen after I’m dead, so I don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/18 "2024-06-21T17:20:46Z")
[![](https://frinkiac.com/img/S09E22/750715.jpg) ](https://frinkiac.com/img/S09E22/750715.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/19 "2024-06-21T17:45:23Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > That implies the person is holding off the flood. It works nicely for situations like when you retire while spinning ten plates, and you know things will go to hell without you. Not so much when you have not much to do with the problem. I can see how you can get that meaning from it, but the original sense of the quote was a ruler not caring what happens after he’s dead. “Let it flood, for all I care”. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061/20 "2024-06-22T01:18:42Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Climate change is another example. I won’t be around to see the worst of it. I know full well that this is a selfish attitude to take, but what goes into the sentence “I will climate change”? > Any ideas. It may be a selfish attitude, but it’s also a rational one that I should not feel compelled to lower my actual standard of living to potentially improve the standard of living for some hypothetical people in the future. I looked up some synonyms for “ignore” and I feel like the phrase “turn a blind eye to” might be close to what you are looking for. Although I associate that phrase with something that is happening now, not potentially in the future. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-we-need-a-new-word/1003061.md?page=2)