Date:    Thu, 11 Jun 1998 08:54:09 -0400
<br>From:    Laurence Horn <laurence.horn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: Query: PREPONE
<br>
<br>At 9:52 PM -0400 6/10/98, Margaret Ronkin wrote:
<br>>Query: PREPONE
<br>>
<br>>I've been assuming that to _prepone_ X (1) means to reschedule X before
<br>>the time X was scheduled, and (2) originated in (Asian) Indian English,
<br>>possibly Bengali English.  Two (not so great) examples - the second of
<br>>which is definitely Indian - follow.
<br>>
<br>A quick check of Nexis supports your assumption.  Virtually all 21 of the
<br>citations either come from the press of the subcontinent or refer
<br>(admiringly) to the ingenuity of Indian English speakers for having
<br>invented this opposite of "postpone".  The first citation, curiously, comes
<br>from the "On Language" column of the N. Y. Times Magazine, but not on
<br>Safire's watch.  One of his summer replacements, Steven Weisman, wrote on
<br>12 July 1987 about the glories of Indian English, citing "prepone" along
<br>with "homely" to describe a good homemaker (as in personal ads; definitely
<br>some potential for cross-dialectal interference here), "air-dash" to
<br>describe how you fly somewhere in a hurry, etc.
<br>
<br>>Can anyone help me with the origin and of this wonderful word?  Is it
<br>>current in other Englishes?
<br>>
<br>Apparently not yet, more's the pity, although one of the Asian citings is
<br>from Hanoi.  I will do my little part to rectify the situation by spreading
<br>the word tomorrow in a toast at the Baltimore wedding of my niece,
<br>originally scheduled for September 5th but just last week preponed to June
<br>12th.
<br>
<br>Larry
<br>