#antepenultimate

„Bezduszny los doświadcza tak

Masą prób męczy wciąż nieugięty czas”

„Me serce bije i tak na przekór dniom

Gdy ciągle czuję twój gniew nade mną”

ULTIMATE: The last thing.

Good, important word.

PENULTIMATE: The first to last thing.

Sometimes useful. Fancy.

ANTEPENULTIMATE: The second to last thing.

Was this really necessary?

PREANTEPENULTIMATE: The third to last thing.

...

You've got to be kidding me.

...

Second to last

Today is the last day of February.

366 days ago, also February 28th, it was the penultimate day of February, much like it was yesterday.

Americans don’t really use the word ‘penultimate’. And even if they do, they certainly don’t use the word ‘antepenultimate’. That just sounds like your grandmother went a bit mental when naming your dad’s sister.

No, no. Here, they like to keep things simple. They say, ‘second to last’.

But hang on. What does ‘second to last’ even mean?

Most of us would agree that it means the one next to last. Where last was somehow first in some weird anti-race (another grandparent aneurism), second to last is second in said contest, meaning ‘the one before the last’.

But what if the next to last was called ‘first to last’ meaning ‘the first one before the last’. Then ‘second to last’ would be the one before that, two away from last. i.e. antepenultimate.

Not so simple now, is it?