[OP]
Moderator
Derek Cohen's thread (https://sawmillcreek.org/search.php?searchid=13554582) got me thinking about the use of the word, penultimate. I hope he used the word in the way I understand it, because it means there are more posts to come.
I always thought penultimate means next to last.
However, I have heard more than one woodworker use it in a way that implies it to mean the last or the best; Dyami Plotke's website is called the Penultimate Woodshop.
I don't mean to cast penaspersions at anyone...
Last edited by Prashun Patel; 03-11-2020 at 11:17 AM.
Contributor
It seems my computer's dictionary agrees with you:
Penultimate.png
Especially not at my (or Rep. Louie Gohmert's R-TX) asparagus.I don't mean to cast penaspersions at anyone...
My asparagus is starting to show life, so this comes to mind every year at this time.
It does appear Derek has one more post coming this weekend.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
"Penultimate" had a vogue as a catchword in the '80s. Back then people didn't know what it meant either. It sounded cool, but people didn't know that it actually meant second to last. That typically was the opposite of what they meant to say.
Contributor
Yep, a lot of people like to use a two dollar word when they only have a fifty cent dictionary.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
I think they meant it was the last one before the ultimate. So second to last does actually make sense. Once you have made the perfect push stick you no longer change the design.
Bill D.
[OP]
Moderator
I usually hear it as if the speaker means "the best of the best".
I seem to remember it used wrt workbench design. It annoyed me....but now I'm thinking there's some kind of humility and poetry in there: This is the practical best that I can achieve, respecting that there is some, unattainable perfection out there.
I'm guessing Derek meant it as second to last, because it reassures the reader and whets his appetite for the finale.
"...too much time on my hands" (Styx)
Last edited by Prashun Patel; 03-11-2020 at 2:59 PM.
Contributor
I expect Derek to have one last post on this, when the finish is completed
~mike
happy in my mud hut
Contributor
ALMOST last COULD be second-to-last, but could be third, or fourth, or---
========================================
ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
FOUR - CO2 lasers
THREE- make that FOUR now- fiber lasers
ONE - vinyl cutter
CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle
Last but, for one. As in penultimate hop-popping in MPLS . . . Sorry, pre-retirement life rearing its head. :-)
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Member
I have not heard it used incorrectly, though I rarely hear it. My favorite is antepenultimate: the last but two.
Contributor
Often when a speaker pronounces or uses a word incorrectly it makes me wonder if they really know what they are talking about.I usually hear it as if the speaker means "the best of the best".
The also makes me think about the word forte. In music it is pronounced fortay meaning forceful. When used to mark a person's strong point, or often to say something isn't a strong point, it is pronounced fort. At least until recently when so many have pronounced it incorrectly the formerly incorrect is now accepted as correct.
mid 17th century (in forte1 (sense 2) ; originally as fort): from French fort (masculine), forte (feminine) ‘strong’, from Latin fortis.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
[OP]
Moderator
Jim, external links aren't encouraged, but type this into your browser. It's a fascinating listen...
http://
revisionisthistory.com/episodes/39-chutzpah-vs-chutzpah
Last edited by Prashun Patel; 03-11-2020 at 4:17 PM.
Language can be tricky. I would discourage someone who is trying to bestow a compliment by using a word that essentially means "almost" the ultimateOriginally Posted by Jim Koepke
. Those people are handing out a backhanded compliment unintentionally.
I find this practice discouraging but, that's just my Sheldon Cooper syndrome showing through.
Last edited by glenn bradley; 03-11-2020 at 4:25 PM.
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Contributor
I always read Dyami's naming of his website, as the penultimate woodshop as being I almost have my shop the way I want it, my next shop will be the ultimate. (i.e. I'm getting close... but not quite there yet.)
But then again someone should ask Dyami.
John
Contributor
Had to Google that since my TV viewing hasn't included Big Bang Theory.Sheldon Cooper syndrome
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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