We’ve talked before about the term wasband, as in, ex-husband. A caller suggests another good term for that fellow: penultimate husband. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Penultimate Husband”
Grant, remember when we had a call recently about the term husband?
Yes, this is an ex-husband.
Yes, yes.
We got some other suggestions for what you can call your ex.
We heard from Yen Fung, who wrote us from Singapore, to suggest the word wife-out, which I kind of like.
A husband can’t be a wife-out without an ex-wife.
So wife-out is one.
And then I really loved this one from David Crisp in Billings, Montana.
He said, my own favorite term came from a woman whose name I don’t recall who referred to her ex as her penultimate husband.
Isn’t that great?
For a second there, I thought you were saying that he couldn’t remember his ex-wife’s name.
No, David says, my own wife had been married before she met me and some 35 years into our marriage, it still gives me considerable comfort to think of her ex as her penultimate husband.
That suggests that he’s the last and final.
Right, right.
The penultimate is the next to last.
I really like that.
Penultimate husband.
That sounds so nice, doesn’t it?
Yes, it does.
It’s nice for the ex and it’s nice for the present husband.
Plus fancy word, so point for that.
Yeah, penultimate.
We’ll take your fancy words for an ex, 877-929-9673, or email them to words@waywordradio.org.
