Written by Nick Leitzke

Dictionary definition of the prefix “pre”: 1) before, earlier 2) in advance, preparatory 3) in front of.

One of my fascinations is how engrained language is in our psyche. We freely use words and prefixes knowing well enough what they mean but not completely conscious of what leads us to use them, or even how they came to mean what they mean. I buy into the notion of Owen Barfield that all language is a collection of dead metaphors and we are speaking to each other with poetic diction. Words are meant to stand for things, to represent things in a sort of vocal symbolism. The original meaning has been lost over the hundreds of thousands of years of linguistic evolution, but current meaning must have a starting point.

Regardless of what the words we use in every day speech currently mean, sometimes the origin of the word can reveal dimensions never considered in speech. For example, I wrote a paper in college where I looked at the meaning of the word “absurd” in connection with the Theater of the Absurd. I discovered that absurd derives from German and in its original definition means “out of tune in a musical context.” The modern definition of “absurd” deals with the meaninglessness of existence, but the original definition can shed light on what the Absurdist playwrights accomplished. Absurdity is a state of being out of tune with what ought to be. I used this assertion in my paper, drawing flak from a philosophy professor who pointed out that it is a logical fallacy to examine word origins when building an argument. I call that poppycock, but all of this is a horrible digression.

My point is that word meanings change. Languages draw upon other languages to add to their lexicon, and even natural conversation among individuals is a phase of linguistic evolution. Virginia Woolf said that words do not live in dictionaries; words live in the mind, and the English language is a hussy when it comes to drawing upon outside influences. So the inception of new words is to be expected, and some words will change meaning without us realizing it. I love the English language and do my utmost to abide by every grammatical rule in the book, because I should and so should everyone else. The nature of language is what it is, though, and I allow leeway for movement. Word meanings will change, and I will let them.

Use of prefixes and suffixes is something that exists outside the realm of natural linguistic evolution, however. Prefixes and suffixes live by firmly defined boundaries and rules. They mean one thing and only one thing, limiting the extent to which they should be utilized. This does not stop people from using them incorrectly. Prefixes are the redheaded step-children of the English language, abused with impunity and nobody seems to care. Nobody, that is, but myself. And George Carlin, God rest his observant and foul-mouthed soul. In his 1992 HBO special ‘Jammin In New York’ Carlin runs a fantastic riff on the overuse of the prefix “pre.”

Some bastardizations that George Carlin points out:

preboard – Preboard the airplane. Do we get on before we get on?

prerecorded – This program was “prerecorded.” When else are you going to record it? Afterwards?

preheated – Preheat the oven. There are only two states in which an oven can exist. Heated and unheated.

Misuse of the prefix “pre” results in laughable redundancies, but the same mistakes are made repeatedly. One of the last places on Earth where I could find a flawless representation of the English language was the BBC. Leave it to the inventors of English to use English as it was meant to be used. I know the English say “aluminium” instead of “aluminum,” but that’s okay. One mispronunciation out of a billion is forgivable, and I am confident that when I read the news at news.bbc.co.uk I can find the language untouched by ignorant overuse of the prefix “pre.”

Until this week. On Wednesday Akio Toyoda testified before Congress regarding Toyota’s terrible negligence of safety in its fleet of automobiles. Toyoda read a statement to the Representatives expressing his apologies for his company’s recent shortcomings and affirming his commitment to seeing that these issues are rectified immediately. The article touches on this halfway through, in a quote that reads: “(Toyoda) said in his pre-prepared remarks that he took a personal responsibility for improving the quality of Toyota cars.”

Pre-prepared. Pre-prepared? Before I fly off the deep end let’s look at the dictionary definition of the prefix “pre,” just for old times’ sake: 1) before, earlier 2) in advance, preparatory 3) in front of.

Definition Number 2! “In advance, preparatory.” Preparatory! By definition it…agh! Does not compute! Excuse me while I fly off the deep end.