Grammar Moses: 'Penultimate' isn't all it's cracked up to be

Margaret McDonald of Arlington Heights is the type of parent I would have aspired to be, had I been a parent.

“I'm the mother who used to pay her kids a nickel a day if they used ‘penultimate' correctly in a sentence!” she wrote. “Can't wait for your column on correct usage of the verbs ‘to lay' and ‘to lie.'”

You're going to have to wait for a lengthy discussion of lay versus lie, but I have the other part covered.

Y is the penultimate letter in the English alphabet.

“Swog” is the penultimate syllable in hornswoggle.

The javelin throw is the penultimate event in the women's Olympic heptathlon.

So, Margaret, do I get a nickel, or will you write a check for 15 cents for extra credit?

Penultimate might sound like a super-duper version of ultimate — something someone in advertising might have dreamed up. Consider the Bacon Penultimate Cheeseburger from Jack in the Box. Would that be better than the Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger, which actually is on the menu?

In reality, penultimate means the one right before the final one.

I guess it sounds more impressive to say that you were the penultimate contestant in the beauty pageant, when in reality you were the first runner-up.

Nauseating

Readers Jim Mann and Jackie Douglas and several others have written to me with questions about the proper uses of words that derive from “nausea.”

“I believe that ‘I am nauseous' means ‘I am disgusting,'” Jim wrote.

Jackie concurred. “I have always been irritated when people say they are ‘nauseous.' To me this means they are making people sick.”

I'm a newspaper editor, so you'll excuse my prescriptivist tendencies. I've often chuckled to myself when people say, “I'm nauseous.” Yes, you are, I say to myself. Your misuse of the word make me queasy.

If you're a prescriptivist, then Jackie and Jim (and I) are correct. The original meaning of the word “nauseous” is something that makes one feel nauseated. So, if you're nauseous, you make others feel sick.

But before we all go slapping each other on the back and buying a round for the whole bar, this is one of those flubs that has been so thoroughly ingrained in modern usage that it has become accepted by many linguists.

When someone says, “I'm nauseous,” odds are overwhelming that the person's intent is to convey that he is nauseated. There is little room for confusion.

I don't know too many people who would admit that they make other people sick. Do you?

You've been had

Steve had his leg broken while riding his bike home from school today.

Wait a minute. Did he hire someone to crack his shins so he could get out of swimming practice?

The word had in this case might connote an intended result, a course of action.

“Steve had his bike fixed the next day” clearly means that he asked someone to fix it for him.

I'm irritated by the had his leg broken construction, but it's commonly used enough to warrant consideration.

While still problematic, the construction “Steve broke his leg when he fell off his bike on the way home from school” is far more common. And because the alternate definition of “had” isn't involved, it removes any doubt as to whether Steve's leg was broken intentionally.

So I would go with the latter. Or, better still: “Steve's leg was broken when he fell off his bike on the way home from school.”

Final words

* Drapes are hung; cattle poachers were hanged.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is assistant vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can follow or friend Jim on social media at facebook.com/baumannjim.