Penultimate

[dooley_womack1]

Sorry, I don't have any vacancy for the position of vice president/what Dooley needs to get over. You're not hired.

 

[zeke12]

Damn, the job market is tough all over.

 

[dooley_womack1]

It's the hiring freeze; damn BLOGS!

 

[deskslave]

Gregg Bell of the AP, have you been reading this thread?

From today's OSU-UW gamer:

Washington took a 7-3 on the penultimate play of the first half when Anthony Russo made a twisting catch at the goal line of a 23-yard pass. The 74,927 in Husky Stadium -- the third-largest crowd in the 87-year-old stadium's history -- rocked as it hadn't in four years.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Even if you for some reason think penultimate can be used, it doesn't belong in the same graph as "rocked as it hadn't in four years."

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Gregg Bell of the AP, have you been reading this thread?

From today's OSU-UW gamer:

Washington took a 7-3 on the penultimate play of the first half when Anthony Russo made a twisting catch at the goal line of a 23-yard pass. The 74,927 in Husky Stadium -- the third-largest crowd in the 87-year-old stadium's history -- rocked as it hadn't in four years.

Is this really better than:

Washington took a 7-3 with three seconds left in the first half when Anthony Russo made a twisting catch at the goal line of a 23-yard pass.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

Four years of Latin out the window. I wrote something about "Paul Coffey's celerity being inexplicable" and a guy on the rim changed it to "celebrity." Which made no sense.

YHS, etc

 

[Bubbler]

Even if you for some reason think penultimate can be used, it doesn't belong in the same graph as "rocked as it hadn't in four years."

Common ground, Dools. I would have cut that line out with extreme prejudice. AP stories that have stuff like that in them suck on a pair of levels.

A) It comes off as homerish from a service that should always write straight down the middle. I'm sure he was trying to capture the atmosphere, but he whiffed.

B) The AP just shouldn't be "cool" with gamers. Reading that in an AP gamer would be like hearing my dad describe SSgt. Barry Sadler as being "off the chain" when he saw Sadler "drop" Ballad Of The Green Berets on Ed Sullivan in 1967 or something. Totally incongruent.

 

[amraeder]

I'm just shocked that we think so few people know what penultimate means. I mean, I think I've know that since middle school.

 

[dooley_womack1]

I'm not saying it's not known (tho I'm sure many don't know it). It sure in the hell isn't a word of common usage, and it probably has almost zero usage outside of faux smart blips in newspaper stories and in the occasional vocabulary test.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

dooley, you have the penultimate post on this thread. Congratulations.

 

[MartinEnigmatica]

Now it's the antepenultimate.

 

[imjustagirl2]

Absolutes are never a good idea, dools.

 

[zeke12]

Absolutes are never a good idea, dools.

And my crush on IJAG grows mythical in proportion.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Yes, JR, it is a highfalutin word, and not using it does not mean the dumbing-down of America by any means. There is utterly no context where it's better than "next-to-last." None. And a myth: fewer words is always better. No, it's not.

Gotta disagree, dools.

There are times when penultimate is correct. As someone else mentioned, it likely adds a whiff of gravitas one doesn't need in a HS football gamer, but there are times when it would absolutely be correct.

And that dovetails into a point I made earlier about people using high-dollar terms incorrectly. The times I've seen gravitas used in all but the best stories/editorials, it's just one more synonym of "balls". As in: Joey Paulson showed gravitas by running a quarterback sneak on 4th-and-5 in the second quarter.

Used that way, it certainly makes this quote ...

As someone else mentioned, it likely adds a whiff of gravitas one doesn't need in a HS football gamer

... more interesting.

 

[zeke12]

Dare I say it, Meat, but it might be ironic.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Absolutes are never a good idea, dools.

Including that one.

And is antepenultimate the next-to-last war before the Civil War?

Ironic? Hoops needs to come and make a ruling.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Dare I say it, Meat, but it might be ironic.

To be fair, most high school football gamers smell like balls anyway, so the effect is lost.

 

[zeke12]

Dare I say it, Meat, but it might be ironic.

To be fair, most high school football gamers smell like balls anyway, so the effect is lost.

Well, they surely don't smell like scotch and rich, polished wood, that's for sure.

 

[MartinEnigmatica]

Absolutes are never a good idea, dools.

Including that one.

And is antepenultimate the next-to-last war before the Civil War?

Ironic? Hoops needs to come and make a ruling.

Nay, the next-to-next-to-last