Let's abolish the word "penultimate"

[capybara]

I like having it around: it’s like a shibboleth for nerds.

[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.

[Quiddity_Glomfuster]

@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.

However, we can dispense with people who place an apostrophe in ‘its’ when they mean ‘belonging to it’.

[si_blakely]

@Zsofia

I also am a fan of “antepenultimate” and use it regularly. Today I’m not on desk for the antepenultimate shift!

Yep, well I like antepostpenultimate

Si

[WhyNot]

@capybara

I like having it around: it’s like a shibboleth for nerds.

I thought shibboleth was the shibboleth for nerds.

[UncleRojelio]

@chappachula

How in Og’s name are you going to do the Last Supper sketch without the word penultimate?

Now I’m really confused. Didn’t Leonardo Da Vinci paint The Postpenulitmate Supper?

[Autolycus]

@Spiral Stairs

A recent misuse of the word “penultimate” in these fora . . .

My bad. I was corrected though, so huzzahs all around.

[Sage_Rat]

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…

[Ferd_Burfel]

If we abolish the word, how will I describe the panel in Doonesbury where the best dialog takes place?

[CalMeacham]

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.

[VinylTurnip]

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.

[Noone_Special]

@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.

That would be the postantepenultimate choice.

[Musicat]

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

[Hampshire]

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!”

[pravnik]

I thought it was a maximum security prison. “Did you hear about Fredo? He got sent down to the penulitmate, man!”

[tdn]

@Noone Special

That would be the postantepenultimate choice.

Ultimate panty post?

[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.

[Dag_Otto]

@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.

Well, there is always a penultimate stage, but it’s not always a time trial.

[Terrifel]

@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.

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.

[Anaamika]

You can’t take one of my favorite words away.