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Complex Numbers #1085201 added March 11, 2025 at 9:45am
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Penultimatum
Interesting word, 'penultimate.' As the Latinized synonym for "next-to-last" or "last but one," it is, like most Latinizations, considered more erudite, perspicacious, or even loquacious than the vulgar Anglo-Saxonisms that mean the same thing.
But it's also sometimes misunderstood, which means it either needs to be explained, put in proper context, or avoided entirely (the latter of which will do nothing to mitigate its misunderstoodiness). I don't say this to rag on anyone or try to make them feel stupid, not like when I rail against misuse of apostrophes. But I've seen it used as if the writer thought it meant something like "beyond ultimate," which is just nonsense, like giving 110%; or, alternatively, in the same spirit as 'inflammable,' that it's just a wordier synonym, like 'utilize' for 'use.'
That's not the odd thing, though. As I've noted in the past, we all start out ignorant and have to learn things, such as words and what they mean. That's okay, as long as one doesn't cling to the mistake out of pride or stubbornness. No, what's odd is that, unlike other words, the wrong usage has not (yet) taken off and become standard.
'Decimate,' for instance, is meant to describe the loss of 1/10th (or 10%, same thing) of something. It comes from Latin, again, naturally, and shares a root with 'decimal' (hence the 1/10). Supposedly, a legion that needed to be punished would be purposely decimated in order to keep the remaining 90% on their toes, much like layoffs today are meant to strike fear into the hearts of uppity workers, lest they labor under the misunderstanding that they have any power whatsoever.
But so many people have misused the word that it's now a synonym for the similar-sounding 'devastate,' and it drops the 'decimal' connection completely, losing its reference to any particular number or fraction. Any group or area that suffers significant losses, be it a tenth or half or whatever, is said to be decimated.
I said it was wrong, up there, but it's not, really; it's just an example of how language changes. Look up 'decimate' in a dictionary and you might find reference to its old meaning, but it's clear that the English word has fully embraced its new, less numerically precise, definition.
Not that we should look to dictionaries to resolve arguments. As I've noted repeatedly, they're descriptive, not prescriptive; that is, they describe how language is widely used, rather than prescribe how language should be used. If enough of us pedants rose up in protest and demanded that 'decimate' be used in the Latin sense, they'd have to add that definition back to the dictionaries.
Point being, I don't know what threshold the wrong use of a word or phrase has to reach before becoming accepted to all but the most dedicated language police. But it seems 'penultimate' hasn't reached that threshold, and by using it to describe the second-to-last entry in this blog (that is, this one), I hope I'm doing my part to keep the definition clean.
Tomorrow, then, I say goodbye. |
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