# Let's abolish the word "penultimate" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726 "2007-04-04T16:31:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/21 "2007-04-04T19:21:08Z")
I like having it around: it’s like a shibboleth for nerds. ---
**Author:** ![AHoosierMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@AHoosierMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHoosierMama)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/22 "2007-04-04T19:27:38Z")
Pretty soon the wrong will be right. If enough people continue to use a word incorrectly, the definition will evolve. I love that about language. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/23 "2007-04-04T19:34:04Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I know it, and love it, and my friends understand it. It’s use is unlikely to lead to injury or death (as is the case with “Inflammable”). I say we keep it. [/QUOTE] However, we can dispense with people who place an apostrophe in ‘its’ when they mean ‘belonging to it’. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/24 "2007-04-04T19:38:28Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] I also am a fan of “antepenultimate” and use it regularly. Today I’m not on desk for the antepenultimate shift! [/QUOTE] Yep, well I like **antepostpenultimate** 😛 Si ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/25 "2007-04-04T19:42:21Z")
[QUOTE=capybara] I like having it around: it’s like a shibboleth for nerds. [/QUOTE] I thought shibboleth was the shibboleth for nerds. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/26 "2007-04-04T19:47:23Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] How in Og’s name are you going to do the [Last Supper sketch](http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/michelangelo.html) without the word penultimate? [/QUOTE] Now I’m really confused. Didn’t Leonardo Da Vinci paint _The Postpenulitmate Supper_? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/27 "2007-04-04T19:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=Spiral Stairs] A recent misuse of the word “penultimate” in these fora . . . [/QUOTE] My bad. I was corrected though, so huzzahs all around. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/28 "2007-04-04T20:14:51Z")
I had it wrong (though I had quintessential right.) But I think that I can offer you all a penultimatum that you can’t refuse… ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/29 "2007-04-04T20:16:36Z")
If we abolish the word, how will I describe the panel in Doonesbury where the best dialog takes place? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/30 "2007-04-04T20:25:00Z")
> [@](#): > > However, we can dispense with people who place an apostrophe in ‘its’ when they mean ‘belonging to it’. Yeah, I complain about them all the time, too. What can I saY? I was in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/31 "2007-04-04T20:27:29Z")
This idea is either: 1. Good 2. Lame 3. Neutral I’m going to go with… what’s it called? The next-to-last one. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/32 "2007-04-04T20:30:25Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] This idea is either: 1. Good 2. Lame 3. Neutral I’m going to go with… what’s it called? The next-to-last one. [/QUOTE] That would be the postantepenultimate choice. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/33 "2007-04-04T20:30:33Z")
I had a music professor[sup]\*[/sup] once who would write out short tunes on the blackboard for us to discuss. He would refer to the measures as the ultimate, penultimate, and antepenultimate. Smart-aleck that I was, I had to ask him what the next bar in the sequence would be called. “The first, of course.” [sup]\*[/sup]Dr. Manus Sasonkin, RIP ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/34 "2007-04-04T20:37:50Z")
I must be one of those who’s using it wrong. “You want a great writing instrument? Have you tried the Montblanc Starwalker Resin? That thing is penultimate!” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/35 "2007-04-04T20:44:46Z")
I thought it was a maximum security prison. “Did you hear about Fredo? He got sent down to the _penulitmate_, man!” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/36 "2007-04-04T20:45:06Z")
[QUOTE=Noone Special] That would be the postantepenultimate choice. [/QUOTE] 😕 Ultimate panty post? ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/37 "2007-04-04T21:50:47Z")
No, the penultimate stage of the Tour de France is always a time trial and I’ll be damned if I’m ever denied the opportunity to hear Phil and Paul announce, “at the start of the penultimate stage of the Tour de France.” You’ve made my enemies list just for suggesting that the word should be disallowed. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/38 "2007-04-04T22:15:02Z")
[QUOTE=threemae] No, the penultimate stage of the Tour de France is always a time trial and I’ll be damned if I’m ever denied the opportunity to hear Phil and Paul announce, “at the start of the penultimate stage of the Tour de France.” You’ve made my enemies list just for suggesting that the word should be disallowed. [/QUOTE] Well, there is always a penultimate stage, but it’s [not always](http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/2000/jul00/tdfrance00/stages/tdfrance00st20.shtml) a time trial. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/39 "2007-04-04T23:35:41Z")
[QUOTE=AHoosierMama] Pretty soon the wrong will be right. If enough people continue to use a word incorrectly, the definition will evolve. I love that about language. [/QUOTE] You’ll love it a lot less when you’re being burned at the stake for using the word ‘evolve,’ which everyone knows is a code phrase for Satanism. Personally, I think that misuse of the word ‘penultimate’ is the epitome of carelessness. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726/40 "2007-04-05T01:14:16Z")
You can’t take one of my favorite words away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-abolish-the-word-penultimate/398726.md?page=3)