I was in a seminar my freshman year of college when one of my classmates identified “the penultimate example” of something we were reading about.
I was appalled. I thought I had gone to college to get away from this bullshit. I had to bite my tongue to keep from sneering, “The next to last example?” I was a jerk like that at the time. (Yeah, yeah, still am.)
See, penultimate means “next to last.” It does not mean “really, really ultimate”. Bonus tip: Antepenultimate means “third to last”.
Next week: Proof of proof