Little to Like on the Prefix Menu

Why the posthaste to use “post”? A post-truth world, post-gender society, postliberal order. I recently read of a post-prestige TV era. Since “Mister Ed,” has it ever been prestigious? Or postmodernism. Shouldn’t modernism always be current? That’s as illogical as post-apocalyptic. But my favorite post is post-rationalists—known on Twitter as “postrats”—kind of a beyond-truth troop. Irrational but fitting.

Don’t get me started about “late” as in late-stage capitalism. How many times have you heard pretentious poseur know-it-alls talking to their post-pierced barista and fellow pre-employed chai latte sipping layabouts using daddy’s credit card discussing how capitalism isn’t simply over but “so over”?

The German economist Werner Sombart is said to have been the first to print the term late-stage capitalism, around the turn of the century—the 20th century, that is. More than 120 years on, can it get any later? Better late than post, I guess. Late-stage capitalism means folks are fed up with having to work hard and instead are looking for handouts. Complain about capitalism all you want, but folks in Russia, Venezuela and Seattle, the short-lived home of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, sure know what late-stage socialism looks like.

It works both ways. A doctor looking at my A1C blood-test readings told me I was pre-diabetic and to give up bread. How “pre”? Because I’m also pre-death. In Silicon Valley, most software is pre-release, even though it’s been released. Renamed “beta” to make it sound cool, these are test versions of the future. ChatGPT was released with many flaws—let users find all the mistakes.

“Uber” was a cool preemie, as in uber-athlete, Übermensch, until canceled ride pickups ruined it. The umlaut version of über is a nice touch. And be warned, adding “super” in front of any word can be super-annoying.

Here’s another trick. Add “neo” before almost any “ism” and it makes it sound über-hip, super-now. What was tired becomes new again. Like neoclassicism, which is almost an oxymoron. Neoexpressionism. Neo-Confucianism. Sadly, whenever I hear “neo,” all I can think of is Keanu Reeves’s character Neo, from “The Matrix” movies, dodging bullets and still talking as if he’s in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Neocolonialism. Neo-Marxism. You can neo anything.

There are already too many “isms” and “ists.” Impressively, a New York Times columnist used the words masculinist, individualist, narcissist, victimologist and safetyism in short order. In six months, he can write another column about neo-masculinists, and so on. Or how about this, also in the Times, from tech and artificial-intelligence skeptic Evgeny Morozov pining for a “post neoliberalism” future—a double bagger. Of course, that’s simply a mushy way to say he hates free markets. Neo-stupidism.

If there’s a “pre” and a “post” then surely there must be a “peak,” right? Peak popularity. Peak performance. Maybe we’ve hit peak ESG. In June BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he’d stop using the abbreviation for environmental, social and governance investing because it had been “weaponized.” It’s about time. I noted a year ago that BlackRock is the one that weaponized ESG as a marketing tag to charge higher fund fees.

Have we hit peak DEI as well? The Journal noted in July that high ranking diversity, equity and inclusion executives at Disney, Netflix

“Counter” also gets overused. Counterculture, counterrevolutionary, which almost sound like contradictions. And go ahead, use “contra” instead of “counter” for a 1980s vibe, as in the Nicaraguan Contras. Doctors throw out long words like contraindicatory rather than say, “Don’t take that drug.”

Here’s something very 2020s: Call something “mid” as in middling or mediocre, like Netflix shows or AI skeptics. It evidently started on TikTok as a putdown for the Midwest: “Skyline Chili? Mid. Your Cincinnati Reds who haven’t won a World Series since 1990? Mid.” Time to forbid mid.

But not if it is replaced by “doom” as in doom-scrolling and doom loops. This will probably have legs as doomsayers and doomsdayers start to doom Zoom about everything. Here’s a snappy comeback: “OK Doomer.”

Anyone can play this game. “Pseudo” is a good working modifier that usually means sham or superficial. Like pseudoscience. If you want to be really annoying, which I often do, pronounce it “sway-dough.” Especially to pseudointellectuals talking about post-neoliberalism or the late, later, latest stages of capitalism.

“Quasi”—fun as “KWAY-zigh”—is another great one, defined as “seemingly” or “apparently but not really.” Quasi-official, quasi-monopoly. “Apparently but not really” describes almost everything spewing from politicians’ mouths.

Have we hit peak Biden? Peak Trump? Pre-sumptuous. Nonetheless, I hope someday to live in a neo-post-peak prefix world.

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