It's not just great... it's PENULTIMATE!

[Hypersmurf]

What is it with the word? Why do so many people seem to use 'penultimate' in place of 'super-uber-awesome'?

It means next-to-last, people!

12 songs on a CD? Number 11 is the penultimate one. That's no commentary on how good it is! Just a statement of its position on the track listing.

That is all.

-Hyp.

 

[trancejeremy]

It's like "literally". People often say, "literally", when they are actually using a phrase figuratively. Especially sports commentators/writers.


Like "He literally brought the stadium down, when he hit the game winning home run"

 

[hafrogman]

Hedging their bets. By claiming that something is "The ULTIMATE movie-going experience" or somesuch, they're obviously lying when ten years later everyone thinks that 3-D glasses are hokey. If they claim that it's PENULTIMATE then it'll take twenty years for it to become patently false and by then everyone will have forgotten.

Or they just can't speak English properly.

 

[Simplicity]

It's like "ultimate," but even cooler because it has more letters.
Whereas, ultimate is the ultimate adjective.
Penultimate is the penultimate one.
And the penultimate is mightier than the ultimate.

 

[kenobi65]

I suspect it's a function of two things...

1) At least here in the States, "ultimate" is more often used to mean "the best, the greatest, the utmost".

2) Most people don't know the actual definition of "penultimate", and so they figure it must be more ultimate than "ultimate", because it sounds cool and sophisticated.

 

[bodhi]

And the penultimate is mightier than the ultimate.

I think you mean mightier than the swordultimate.

Which is, IIRC, from Final Fantasy Pi.
Or maybe FF Avogadro.

 

[reanjr]

I suspect it's a function of two things...

1) At least here in the States, "ultimate" is more often used to mean "the best, the greatest, the utmost".

2) Most people don't know the actual definition of "penultimate", and so they figure it must be more ultimate than "ultimate", because it sounds cool and sophisticated.

The word ultimate has come to mean greatest due to the concept of something so great that nothing could ever follow it. Penultimate then is something that is near this great, but not entirely. I don't hear it used that often, but whenever I have it has not been in a manner that would contradict this definition.

Penultimate comes from paen ultima, meaning almost the last. Obviously penultimate means almost ultimate. As ultimate can have many meanings, one of which is "not to be improved upon or surpassed; greatest; unsurpassed", then using penultimate in this manner is perfectly valid.

Perhaps those who wonder about this word's usage should wonder about the word "pedant" instead

 

[glass]

I think you mean mightier than the swordultimate.

Isn't 'Swordultimate' one of the new base classes in the forthcoming Complete Nerfherder?


glass.

 

[Pbartender]

"Oh, Dusty. Infamous is when you're MORE than famous. This man El Guapo, he's not just famous, he's IN-famous."

 

[Piratecat]

Note to self: "inflammable" is not an antonym of "flammable."

So... very... painful!