this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
147 points (94.0% liked)
Asklemmy
44151 readers
1462 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy π
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- [email protected]: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I thought penultimate meant ...basically ultimate
Am doofus
Edit: to clarify, I thought it meant it in a good way, as in best. It actually means next to last
Penultimate is a mightier word, even mightier some might say, than the swordultimate.
TouchΓ©
As they say, live by the swordultimate, die by the swordultimate.
One of my professors would regularly use the word antepenultimate, "before before last".
when you're reading linguistics literature & forums you'll see variations all the way up to "propreantepenultimate" (fifth last) commonly
meanwhile in Italian you'd just see "quintultimo" but fuck those guys amirite
Ah, that works much better in Italian!
One related word I have mixed feelings about is 'antediluvian'. On one hand, it's got a nice ring to it. On the other hand, there are enough floods in my area that it translates to "more than a short time ago", which feels contrary to it's intended usage.
Some people might require a flood of biblical proportions. We get those less frequently, but in practice, still too often for the word to be used as intended.
On a semi-related note, I accidentally stumbled on a temple the other day that looked Buddhist, but the symbology had far too many tentacles and various statues had... unusual numbers of limbs. Perhaps the core issue is that I apparently live in R'lyeh. Still... affordable housing on land risen from the deeps, not much pollution or traffic. Google maps can be a bit glitchy. Fresh (if highly unusual) seafood.
It's the word's fault, not yours.
Well you were close. Some might say you were right next to it n
Binge watch all of Taskmaster, youβll never use it wrong again
I just learned! Thanks! That's what I thought it meant as well!
I mean I do see it used that way more often than not.