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To me, the "pre" prefix is overused. Pre-register, pre-drill? For gosh sake how is someone pre-drilling without drilling? What they intend to drill is a pilot hole. If you pre-register, you are registered. There is no need to add the "pre". What is meant is that one has registered prior to the event. But there is pre word that is apt and is, unfortunately, used exclusively in the legal field to describe a class of heirs - pretermitted heirs. Has anyone used this word in any other connotation, as in, to leave something undone? Aside, that is, from pretermitting the pre-registration.

Well, I haven't seen it, but it could be used right now quite frequently. Can you say sequester? The government is definitely pretermitting a lot of its responsibilities these days.

Of course, some would say the gov has over-mitted, to coin or corn, a word. The underlying argument is what government should or should not do. Reading Coolidge bio right now, and it's laughable the sums he was worried over. Apart from that, the argument is current.

Perry, I was on vacation recently and desperate for a book to read. The only one I could find was a biography of President John Tyler, dubbed "His Accidency" by his detractors. I struggled through it. I have never read a full biography of Silent Cal Coolidge. Will Rogers, after a world tour, was asked by a reporter if he saw the Sphinx in Egypt. He replied that he didn't have to because he had already met President Coolidge. We have had some lack luster presidents. Let us know if you can contain your suspense to the end.

Surprisingly enough, he was extremely popular except with Democrats and unionists. He would be totally at home with the tea partiers today, thought he might not consier them tight fisted enough. The book is pretty good, and I'm learning a bunch about what happened in the decade or so before I started making history.

Any hope we can get back to language topics, rather than political history?

The prefix pre has been used a lot these days to mean "do it early". One preboards an Airplane if one is an invalid (or a big shot). I used to get that perk when I was suffering from the effects of stroke. Now they just say, "Wait your turn old timer." I agree these usages can produce some words that have doubtful use. But one can hardly discuss the phenomenon without using the word prefix. Prevent, preempt, prefer, etc have been with us a long time and their prefixes really mean pre.

I have heard presettlers to describe the Oklahoma Sooners. Recently Oklahoma has officially changed the meaning of that word to make it mean something else. The new definition is: Sooners - officials and surveyors who came to OK early to get ready for the land rush.

Slava, thank you for saying, "Enough already!" when we stray too far from discussing language. I like roving a little but it can get out of hand. On occasion, the discussion moves from one word to another. I consider that fair game.