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[pipetti.livejournal.com]

penultimate



[pen-null-tah-mutt] –adjective-

1. next to the last: the penultimate scene of the play.
2. of or pertaining to a penult (next to last syllable in a word).


dictionary.com entry for Penultimate


Where does the time go? We have already reached
Thursday, the penultimate day of the weekdays!

Comments

[bruinsxstrummer.livejournal.com]

Too many people seem to think it means super-ultimate, the number one most ultimate. Drives me nuts how often it's used incorrectly.

[pipetti.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's how I found out what it meant, like about twenty years ago. I used it in a letter I was composing and my friend pointed out that it doesn't mean some fancy kind of impressive ultimacy, it means next-to-last, and I remember thinking that it seemed like such a big word to mean something so, uh, ante-climatic (misspelling deliberate, for once). (And I bet ultimacy is not a word until just now, but I like it.)

Thanks for your comment. I know what ya mean. It drives me nuts when people use the word "pacific" when they mean "specific." Yes, being from central Illinois, I've heard that a lot. For PACIFIC reasons, is why they do stuff there...