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The 'pre' obsession


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As a Tesco Clubcard holder, I have just received one of their regular emails.  Amongst other things, it invites me to buy 'pre-marinated'  BBQ meat.  Why 'pre- marinated'?  What's wrong with 'marinated'?

More generally, why is there an apparently increased obsession with the prefix 'pre', which, being a simple country lad with a Latin 'O' level, I always understood to mean 'before', as in 'prehistoric' meaning 'before history' in the sense of documented eras?

Recently, we learnt that Prince Philip's death was, at least in part, due to a 'pre-existing' condition.  And i cannot recall the last time some junk email merely invited me to 'order' something; it has to be 'pre-order' nowadays!

So, the Duke of Edinburgh apparently suffered from a condition that existed before it existed, while I can order something before I can order it.  Perhaps I should just relax with a nice BBQ including meat....marinated before it was marinated....aaagh!

I used to be a serious linguistic pedant, but the writings of Oliver Kamm in The Times made me much less pedantic.  His message in a nutshell was that English is alive and well and always changing, as was ever the case.  OK, but there are limits......

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Order v pre-order - the latter really means fully-paid reservation of an item or service that is not yet available (but in a less long-winded way). It can be used to avoid confusion, but there are always sloppy people who'll apply it to anything.

A pre-existing condition is also fair enough. If you catch COVID, your survival chances are worse if you have a pre-existing respiratory condition, such as asthma. I suppose you could call it an already-established contributory ailment, if you absolutely must.

"Pre-marinated", on the other hand, is pure horsefeathers. I'd like to do something premeditated to whoever came up with that.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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1 hour ago, Futtocks said:

Order v pre-order - the latter really means fully-paid reservation of an item or service that is not yet available (but in a less long-winded way). It can be used to avoid confusion, but there are always sloppy people who'll apply it to anything.

A pre-existing condition is also fair enough. If you catch COVID, your survival chances are worse if you have a pre-existing respiratory condition, such as asthma. I suppose you could call it an already-established contributory ailment, if you absolutely must.

"Pre-marinated", on the other hand, is pure horsefeathers. I'd like to do something premeditated to whoever came up with that.

Dropped yourself in it there Mr. Futtocks, by saying you'd like to do something premeditated this is tangible evidence of your premeditation of the premeditated meditation and so should you be caught for the premeditated meditation you can't argue that it was simply an of the moment meditation and thus be found guilty of a meditation as opposed to a premeditated meditation which I'm afraid carries a much harsher premeditated punishment. Of course if you meditate to delete your meditation on the premeditated meditation that you'd like to carry out then we can just all premeditate to forget your meditation and go on with our lives. 

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2 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Dropped yourself in it there Mr. Futtocks, by saying you'd like to do something premeditated this is tangible evidence of your premeditation of the premeditated meditation and so should you be caught for the premeditated meditation you can't argue that it was simply an of the moment meditation and thus be found guilty of a meditation as opposed to a premeditated meditation which I'm afraid carries a much harsher premeditated punishment. Of course if you meditate to delete your meditation on the premeditated meditation that you'd like to carry out then we can just all premeditate to forget your meditation and go on with our lives. 

I may have been premature...

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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11 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I may have been premature...

Where you not being pre-premature?

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1 minute ago, Padge said:

Where you not being pre-premature?

More immature than anything.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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36 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

More immature than anything.

Or pre-anything. Sort that out Cox.

Visit my photography site www.padge.smugmug.com

Radio 5 Live: Saturday 14 April 2007

Dave Whelan "In Wigan rugby will always be king"

 

This country's wealth was created by men in overalls, it was destroyed by men in suits.

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2 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

How do you pre-heat an oven?

Pre just means before the event in question. Pre heat oven before cooking,  rather than switch oven on and put food straight in. Pre order: on Amazon for instance,  look at product on sale and order it, or pre order if it's not available yet. Pre menstrual tensions are feelings women get ,ie mood swings before menstruation,  ie it's before the event. 

BTW I never never preheat oven before cooking,  pop food in and just add 5 minutes to cooking time, same result. 

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27 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Pre just means before the event in question. Pre heat oven before cooking,  rather than switch oven on and put food straight in. Pre order: on Amazon for instance,  look at product on sale and order it, or pre order if it's not available yet. Pre menstrual tensions are feelings women get ,ie mood swings before menstruation,  ie it's before the event. 

BTW I never never preheat oven before cooking,  pop food in and just add 5 minutes to cooking time, same result. 

Thanks for the tip, HawkMan.  I may try that when I am next baking bread.  At present I heat (note, not 'pre-heat') the oven to about 210 degrees C, before I put the bread in.  The baking time is variable, as the loaves are of different sizes.  So, in any case, it is always my practice to keep checking how they are doing from about the twenty minutes mark onwards.

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13 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

As a Tesco Clubcard holder, I have just received one of their regular emails.  Amongst other things, it invites me to buy 'pre-marinated'  BBQ meat.  Why 'pre- marinated'?  What's wrong with 'marinated'?

More generally, why is there an apparently increased obsession with the prefix 'pre', which, being a simple country lad with a Latin 'O' level, I always understood to mean 'before', as in 'prehistoric' meaning 'before history' in the sense of documented eras?

Recently, we learnt that Prince Philip's death was, at least in part, due to a 'pre-existing' condition.  And i cannot recall the last time some junk email merely invited me to 'order' something; it has to be 'pre-order' nowadays!

So, the Duke of Edinburgh apparently suffered from a condition that existed before it existed, while I can order something before I can order it.  Perhaps I should just relax with a nice BBQ including meat....marinated before it was marinated....aaagh!

I used to be a serious linguistic pedant, but the writings of Oliver Kamm in The Times made me much less pedantic.  His message in a nutshell was that English is alive and well and always changing, as was ever the case.  OK, but there are limits......

There is a case for pre-ordering a book.

You order a book that has been released, to order it before it can actually be ordered (i.e. it is not published yet) could be pre-order. But, it is pushing it.

I have been annoyed by epicentre. Which, should mean above the actual centre point. This make perfect sense in an Earthquate, i.e. Stoke was the epicentre. But, for a human disease, the epicentre would be above the outbreak. The word used should be "centre", but people were saying "epidemic" and were in the habit of saying "epi".

39 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Pre just means before the event in question. Pre heat oven before cooking,  rather than switch oven on and put food straight in. Pre order: on Amazon for instance,  look at product on sale and order it, or pre order if it's not available yet. Pre menstrual tensions are feelings women get ,ie mood swings before menstruation,  ie it's before the event. 

BTW I never never preheat oven before cooking,  pop food in and just add 5 minutes to cooking time, same result. 

I was with you all the way to the last line.

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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3 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

How do you pre-heat an oven?

Get an aga. You don't need to then. 😜

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2 hours ago, gazza77 said:

Get an aga. You don't need to then. 😜

A particularly pleasant thing to have in the kitchen on a swelteringly hot day...

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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17 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

As a Tesco Clubcard holder, I have just received one of their regular emails.  Amongst other things, it invites me to buy 'pre-marinated'  BBQ meat.  Why 'pre- marinated'?  What's wrong with 'marinated'?

More generally, why is there an apparently increased obsession with the prefix 'pre', which, being a simple country lad with a Latin 'O' level, I always understood to mean 'before', as in 'prehistoric' meaning 'before history' in the sense of documented eras?

Recently, we learnt that Prince Philip's death was, at least in part, due to a 'pre-existing' condition.  And i cannot recall the last time some junk email merely invited me to 'order' something; it has to be 'pre-order' nowadays!

So, the Duke of Edinburgh apparently suffered from a condition that existed before it existed, while I can order something before I can order it.  Perhaps I should just relax with a nice BBQ including meat....marinated before it was marinated....aaagh!

I used to be a serious linguistic pedant, but the writings of Oliver Kamm in The Times made me much less pedantic.  His message in a nutshell was that English is alive and well and always changing, as was ever the case.  OK, but there are limits......

Exactly. Yes., the English language, unlike some others, evolves with new words and expressions, becoming more expressive and efficient but the creeping rot of pre gets me angry, very angry. 

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8 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

How do you pre-heat an oven?

its like on a building site the common saying goes - bricklaying is not supposed to be going on unless its 3 degrees and rising- to me its either 3 degrees or its not! no shelia ferguson jokes please.

see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

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And from a National Trust email today; from this Monday, there is apparently no need to 'pre-book' to visit English properties.  Surely 'booking', in that sense of the word, can only be done in advance!

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On 15/07/2021 at 14:29, JohnM said:

Exactly. Yes., the English language, unlike some others, evolves with new words and expressions, becoming more expressive and efficient but the creeping rot of pre gets me angry, very angry. 

Are there languages that don't evolve? Its a subject I know little about but I just presumed all did.

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I get this to a certain extent. Another pre but not in the literacy sense is Baby Showers and Engagement parties. This is pre the event. As a father who lost a daughter you are celebrating something that may not happen. I completely don't get engagement parties though. One of my former mates sister had an engagement party got 2000 pounds worth of goods and they separated within a couple of weeks after. You're celebrating a promise ffs

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On 15/07/2021 at 15:29, JohnM said:

Exactly. Yes., the English language, unlike some others, evolves with new words and expressions, becoming more expressive and efficient but the creeping rot of pre gets me angry, very angry. 

How about the -ous ending changing from meaning a cause of to a feeling of?

And, the real monsters of the Covid-19 epidemic, those who have used "epicentre" for "centre". Bill Gates really should inject microchips if it is necessary to correct them. I will help.

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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