Preposterous

[Dr. Goodword]

• preposterous •

Pronunciation: pree-pahs-têr-ês • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Outlandish, inconceivable, outrageous, perversely absurd, way, way, way beyond the bounds of reason in violation of all the laws of nature and logic. 2. (Rare) In inverted or reverse order, what should be in first place in last place, having the cart before the horse.

Notes: Have you ever wondered what preposterous things become later, after they become really "posterous"? Today's word is what I call a "curve word" since, like a curve ball in baseball, it isn't what it seems to be. We are right to separate the prefix pre-, but if we do so, we also have to separate post for reasons the Word History will make clear. The adverb here is preposterously, and the only noun we have is preposterousness.

In Play: In order to use today's Good Word accurately, its reference must be outlandishly absurd: "When I said that the boss's idea of manufacturing helicopter ejection seats was preposterous, everyone at the conference table glared at me." If you know someone else who subscribes to our Good Words, you can also use the original meaning (2. above) of this word when speaking with them: "Billy ran to his favorite hideaway in the cave, but his parents discovered him by following his footprints preposterously."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Latin praeposterus "in reverse order, perverse", made up of pre- "before" + posterus "behind". Posterus was derived from post "after", found in several phrases borrowed from Latin, such as post hoc "after the fact", ex post facto "retroactively", and post war "after the war". The prefix pre- "before" in Latin came from the same source as English fore in, well, before, as well as forecast, foretell, and forebode. Post presumably came from PIE pos- "after, behind", seen also in Russian pozdno "late" and Lithuanian pãskui "after(wards)".

[David Myer]

I had never contemplated the before-and-after components of this word. And that is why this site is such a joy - well, one of the reasons anyway.

Interesting that the school prefect system in the UK applies at some schools but they are not called prefects; rather praeposters. And with a different etymology.

This from Wikipaedia:

Praepostor (sometimes spelt Praepositor) is a term now used chiefly at English independent schools, such as Aldenham, Brentwood School, Clifton, Eton, Giggleswick, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Tonbridge and Uppingham as well as at other schools such as the former Derby School which began as grammar schools for the teaching of Latin grammar. It is the equivalent of prefect. The word originally referred to a monastic prior and is late Latin of the Middle Ages, derived from classical Latin praepositus, "placed before".

The use of praepostor in the context of a school is derived from the practice of using older children to lead or control younger children. This originally involved both leading in lessons and keeping general discipline, but latterly it involved only discipline.

Children helping to lead classes were also called monitors, and the terms praepostor and monitor are roughly equivalent to prefect and sub-prefect in many other English schools.