Poll: Do you use 'prepone' for the opposite of 'postpone'?

Comments:

Sooraj - 16th January 2007 08:37

Prepone is wrong...Correct one is Advance

Buckethead - 6th April 2007 18:01

Most Americans don't use "Advance" either and wouldn't know what you meant. The American usage is most commonly "move up".

alphahale - 29th May 2007 15:37

rubbish - prepone thats just stupid

Matt Gaffney - 1st June 2007 17:46

I find prepone rather silly; however, if one wants some word to use, I think antepone is more appropriate.

cuchuflete - 25th August 2007 02:44

The word is common in Indian English, and is becoming more well known in recent years in AE and BE. It is now found in major dictionaries such as Oxford and the latest edition of the Random House Unabridged. You may not like all neologisms, but it's not useful to call them wrong or rubbish or silly on the basis of a lack of familiarity.

krishna - 17th October 2007 22:02

Not that I wasn't aware of, but prepone is considered to be proper english word back in India, but was amazed when MS-Word failed to give me a equivalent for "prepone" !!!

Axl K. Baipaakanyi - 13th December 2007 20:28

The word is 'Advance'

Vidableek - 29th February 2008 22:15

What? Is it supposed to mean the opposite of delay or setback? As in prepone=hurry up or move up? I have never heard that.

porcupine - 2nd April 2008 17:42

Bring forward is what i would use, but prepone seems like a logical opposite of postpone. Cheers

Sammy - 5th June 2008 04:35

I believe if "postpone" is not "silly, rubbish, stupid etc." then there is no harm in using *prepone* as a word instead of thinking it as an Indian word. India gave world number system and numbers without which we -the world- would have been a big zero; and not even zero because zero came from India too. (and so did yoga, dharma, karma etc. ) I have respect for India for sure.

Deepak Mohanty - 17th December 2008 20:22

A language is a living being. By adding new words and redefining a few, we are actually enriching the language. It is not as if English has not evolved over the years. On the contrary, English draws its vitality from the many hues of ideas that the language supports in so many ways. Prepone is a very logical antonym of postpone and the only thing I find silly is the condescension.

IrfOn - 17th July 2009 10:42

Yes, the word "Prepone" is used by indians and is added to recent dictionaries but other coutries find it difficult to understand this word. so my suggestion is to use the appropriate word for appropriate people India - "Prepone" British - "Bring Forward" Portuguese - "Antepone" US - "Reschedule" and so on. well this is what i have come up with. correct me if i am wrong thank you

Murali - 28th July 2009 11:31

Prepone is wrong

Sudi - 4th November 2009 06:48

@irfon thanks, that was handy. do you have an idea what would be a suitable usage in Australia ? cheers,Sudi

Sanjay - 19th November 2009 10:08

Language can never be confined, else simple words of today like google, computor etc would not exist. I've been using the word since 1985, its only today that outlook told me it was not a word. do visit http://www.languagehat.com/archives/ 000645.php for another interesting discussion on the same :)

Renu - 11th December 2009 16:35

the opposite word for postpone is advanced but not prepone

madavan - 24th December 2009 22:18

i live in england for a decade and i have never heard this word prepone, but when i was in india i have been and seen people using this word

Marta - 11th February 2010 05:07

Just a correction for the portuguese word. Yes there actually is a word for it: "antecipar" When I thought about it, I was astonished to find out there isn't a word in English that describes the opposite of postpone. Why is that?

himanshu saklani - 8th March 2010 11:42

advance or some other word can mean some thing else in some other context but prepone which is logical straight means opposite of postpone. Words were not coined by God its us who if find them suitable introduce them.If for the sake of opposing we are opposing, it kills our creativity and stagnates a language

himanshu saklani - 8th March 2010 11:56

hey I just came across a word Right what is its opposite 1 .wrong 2 .left but how a word can have two antonyms which are not related. Thank god this is not a problem with prepone.We need to coin different word for one of them for sentence like " it is right". Now it seems right itself is not right enough to use.I think removing redundancy is key to a good language.

Jan Willem - 8th March 2010 12:46

I have encountered this issue several times during the last year as I'm working in an English spoken IT environment where planning of deployments is core business. therefore both postpone and "the other word" come across quite often. Colleagues from both India and the UK are having difficulty defining the opposite of postpone. Maybe because the latter happens more often ;-). Today in a converence call I heard prepone for the first time, and I tend to agree with the people who are in fovor of prepone, although my language sence has difficulty with the word as it feels somewhat artifical. To advance sounds quite nice, it rings closer to home. but prepone can only be used in its' own particular context, making it absolutely clear what is meant by it.

Will - 8th May 2010 17:07

As somebody born in America who has struggled all his life to figure out how to say a "meeting has been moved up" in a less wordy way, I say preponed should be added to the dictionary. It is a fine word. Thank you India.

Preetham - 10th May 2010 07:12

We make use of language to communicate and make life easy. Prepone gives the meaning and everyone understand. There is nothing wrong or stupid or rubbish in using. I donno from where did AMERICANS or INDIANs come in now. Its just matter of usage.

suresh - 14th May 2010 07:53

Prepone is absolutely right.Since most of us are all aware of this word and there is a absolute meaning to it.why not implement it? On a lighter side,even a lie told a hundred times becomes the truth!!

ajay - 20th July 2010 13:13

lot os words dont make sense, but we still use them.... like americans say "same difference" and britishers say " i phoned him" ... its just the matter of getting used to

Bill - 28th July 2010 13:36

When put in the sentence. The football game has been postponed. You can not say ......... The football game has been advanced, it has a totally different context. Nor moved up!

Bharath - 13th August 2010 05:37

Prepone is absolutely wrong. "Bring forward" is more apt. "Advance" is also acceptable. One should understand that the word "postpone" is a single word and is not a hyphenated compound word with the prefix "post", and so pre-pone is incorrect.

Akhilesh - 30th August 2010 17:47

Prepone is absolutely logical. Language is a medium of communication and has always been evolving . Prepone would mean nothing but to reschedule to an earlier date. It can mean nothing else which makes it a perfect word. Its rediculous to term it as incorrect just because it has come from India.

Alok - 31st August 2010 08:57

Prior to 1998, the word "Prepone" was not in existence. Indians have habit to simplify everything! They now have a tool called "Indian English" like AE and BE! Indians were using the word and finally in 1998, the word "poped-up" in Oxford Dictionary. The word is real useful, logical and after all, its your choice - use it or don't! "I have PREPONED my lunch and I need to go! That's all for now!" :)

naresh - 7th September 2010 10:47

'Antedate' is the appropriate word for opposite of 'postpone'. antepone is also a good one to use.

Vinay - 17th September 2010 11:45

What is the big deal anyway? I see so many people saying I haven't heard of the word before, it doesn't make any sense etc. Now I ask you, just because you haven't heard of the word before does it mean it does not exist? When I was in school, I had a particularly strict English professor who reprimanded me every time I used the word prepone. But I feel that the only way a language can grow is to accept the changes that happens within it. 20 years down the line, I am sure that prepone will be used extensively.

Vijay Kumar Mago - 18th September 2010 20:06

The opposite of postpone is prepone because of following reasons: - Because language always grows and is never stagnant. -secondly simply because elsewhere some other word is being used, usage of that single word cannot be thrusted upon everywhere. - thrdly a word which is simple and easily conveys the correct meaning logically and is acceptable largly automattically gets its authenticity. - If the antonym of any word includes the sylable of that word and easily understood that should always be preferred for acceptability. Hence by all means prepone is thoroughly correct antonym of postpone. - Lastly contibution to the growth of a language can come from anywhere in the world and not necessarily from the place of its origin.

Esai - 27th October 2010 12:01

Appreciate the innovation and enrich the language by adding new, meaningful word for easy communication. Nothing wrong in using Prepone as opponent of postpone

Swati - 18th November 2010 08:17

PREPONE IS NOT RECOMMENDED IN US CULTURE OR MNC'S I prefer to use other words like Advance or Reschedule

Aditya - 5th December 2010 15:34

Ther is no word called as "Prepone" it is "Advanced"

Sharath - 6th December 2010 11:31

Prepone is actually wrong word..

Hameed - 28th December 2010 12:24

One day i recieved SMS stating your flight has been preponed to 3:00am instead 4:45am Is not correct preponed is opposite of postponed? I like the wording Prepone opposite word for postpone. Do you?

drsingh - 5th March 2011 10:50

prepone is used widely in india.i have also noticed that most commenters are indian here.i am too.i feel it would be best to use prepone in an indian workplace and rescheduled in other work environments for better communication.

Guru - 30th March 2011 07:41

How about Timepass versus pastime ? When it comes to language classes Indian kids favourite pastime (timepass) is to make fun of English pronunciation.

george - 8th April 2011 03:58

timepass does not mean pastime in india. it means procrastination.

krishna - 17th June 2011 06:49

I feel that a language is mainly used for communication and i think prepone can be used as an antonym for postpone. Well if you are not habituated with this word get o it now as this word is being used in a nation that has the largest english dailies and weeklies than america and britain.

Mayank - 17th June 2011 10:49

BE has evolved over years and has may Latin and French words. Victorian English was very different and Britisher are not using same now. I read a case of year 1860 on piracy was baffled to know what type /kind of English was used in those days. I am sure no one is speaking that English any more. Why?They can only tell. I am open minded and forward looking person and not averse to new usage. If some one thinks English is what English men speaks then let him or her know world has changed and now English is what is commonly spoken and written world over. After all language is only a medium and not end itself and certainly is not reflection of one intelligence.

P Thinley - 27th June 2011 12:57

I don't think "pone" itself has any meaning of its own to add prefix or suffix to it. Usually we add prefix or suffix to a word to change its existing meaning. e.g. we ad un before "fortunate" to reverse its existing meaning.... do I make sense???

Santosh - 28th June 2011 22:44

English did not born in one day or by one person or any language for that matter. There are many words that americans invent everyday like OMG, LOL, FYI, KICKOFF the meeting, SHOOTan email and many more. If indians invent one word and there are people to reject it. Then we should not be using INTERNET, COMPUTER, LAPTOP because there were no such words before inventing those. I would vote for "YES".

kowari - 3rd July 2011 22:09

it is only logical to use prepone as the opposite to postpone - latin pre (before) ponere (to lay)

Dr Geoffrey Home - 20th October 2011 10:02

For a word to be correct it must be in common usage in the native country regardless of it being in any dictionary. The expression to be used is "Bring Forward" as prepone is meaningless to any English person. The word postpone is a single word, it isnt "pone" with a prefix. If others want to propose "English" words then at least ensure they are useful or dont already exist. Otherwise don't learn English, learn American English instead to get really confused.

Sid - 4th November 2011 10:52

It is natural for modern languages, especially the English language (given its ability to absorb words from foreign languages), to continually evolve and adapt to their surroundings and to the changes in our world such as technological inventions and globalisation. In the past, English has absorbed millions of words from several Indian languages- such as “Pyjama”, “Jungle”, “Shampoo” among many others. The word “Prepone”, as displeasing as it may sound to some, does fill a gap- i.e. the antonym to ‘postpone’- in the language. Besides, it’s just a matter of getting used to it. People in India use the word all the time and its usage is just as common as ‘postpone’. Importantly, the “pone” part of the word “postpone” comes from the Latin word “ponere” which literally means “to put”. In this context, it makes even more sense for the word “prepone” to exist. Also those who put forth the lame argument that the word “prepone” carries less weight as it originated in India are verging on xenophobia, in my mind. Indian English is a recognised dialect of the English language with millions of speakers (Second only to the USA). Today, Indian English is not any more or any less valid than it’s British or American counterparts and there are many Indians who consider English their first language. Hence, words which enter mainstream English from this dialect of English have as much authority as any other dialect of English language. “Prepone” has already entered the Oxford dictionary. Make peace with it and get used to it.

Rajeev - 3rd December 2011 04:54

Prepone need not be categorised as Indian English or any other English. The aim is to understand as fast as possible without any doubts; Advance is effective in certain context only and can cast a doubt in the minds of the receiver. If the aim is for effective communication prepone is preferable to advance.