# Ortho, Meta, Para. What should come next? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659 "2012-03-13T16:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/21 "2012-03-14T13:30:05Z")
the need to find another term really resonates with me. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/22 "2012-03-14T14:05:24Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Ah, but what about when you’ve got a C10 aromatic ring, eh? Or a C14? We need more prefixes for our high aromatics! Um. _googles greek prefixes_ Ipso, Prinortho, Ortho, Diaortho, Anameta, Prinmeta, Meta, Diameta, Epipara, Para? That should cover us for up to a C16 ring… There’s not a chemist who’d be able to figure it out, of course, but then the PhD down the hall looked at me blankly when I just quizzed him about Ipso-substitution. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/23 "2012-03-15T06:03:07Z")
Well, there’s “[Iso-](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iso-)”, which already exists, but was also famously [del]locked in a basement with two pipe-hitting[/del] abused by writers of later _Star Trek_ spinoffs. (Along with the suffix “-metric.”) ---
**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:** [March 15, 2012, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/24 "2012-03-15T11:31:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Ah, but what about when you’ve got a C10 aromatic ring, eh? Or a C14? We need more prefixes for our high aromatics! I’ve only seen the ortho-, meta-, para- nomenclature used for benzene rings. For larger constructions, I’ve invariably seen numbers used, which are unambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/25 "2012-03-15T13:39:20Z")
How about Groucho-, Harpo-, and Chico-? (Not my own joke - I only steal from the best!) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/26 "2012-03-15T14:52:10Z")
Trans. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/27 "2012-03-15T17:11:53Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > How about Groucho-, Harpo-, and Chico-? Two thumbs up! Also, for completeness’ sake, one middle finger. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/28 "2012-03-15T17:18:23Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > How about Groucho-, Harpo-, and Chico-? > > (Not my own joke - I only steal from the best!) So if the mute one did some architecural skeetches, they’d be Harpogonal drawings? And “There aint-a no such-a thing as-a sanity clause!” comes straight from the Chicodoxy. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/29 "2012-03-15T19:00:15Z")
Meta- means change in metamorphosis. (cite: [metamorphosis | Etymology, origin and meaning of metamorphosis by etymonline](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=metamorphosis) ) People who say things morph meaning change are using the wrong part of the word. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/30 "2012-03-16T18:18:28Z")
Going in the other direction, let’s not forget proto- Can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/31 "2012-03-17T22:43:42Z")
> [@simsimian](#): > > pseudonym, metanym, orthonym, paranym > lets see, fake/false name, following name (after name?), true/correct name, something like a name. > \ Ooh, I like paranym. A name for something you don’t want to name accurately, like “freedom fighter,” “restroom,” or “liberator.” ---
**Author:** ![F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.Pu-du-he-pa-as)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/32 "2012-03-19T04:01:47Z")
There are plenty more ancient Greek prepositions to go for. Ana-, aneu-, anti-, apo-, dia-, ek-, en-, ex-, epi-, eis-, kata-, mekhri-, meta-, para-, peri-, pro-, pros-, syn-, hyper-, hypo-, khoris-. How’s that? ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/33 "2012-03-21T03:08:46Z")
Nobody’s suggested porno-? Then let me be the first. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659/34 "2012-03-21T12:38:02Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Nobody’s suggested porno-? Then let me be the first. You win the thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ortho-meta-para-what-should-come-next/615659.md?page=1)