Sunday Rest: Word Not To Use Today: threequel.

I've only recently come across this word. I do so wish I hadn't.

Threequel means the third in a series, and I saw it used in the Radio Times (a respectable publication) with reference to films.

Good grief.

I mean, I've only just got hardened to the horrors of flipping  prequel.

Word Not To Use Today: threequel. This word...it's like viewing the bleeding corpse of some new Frankenstein's monster. The word is formed, presumably, under the illusion that the se in sequel means following and quel means next (or item, or something)...or possibly the other way round...But it doesn't. Sequel comes from the Latin sequī, to follow: which makes the whole thing a nonsense.

 

Mind you, Quells are a type of anti-nausea tablet, so perhaps there's some justification for using it after all.

The word's been around since the eighties, apparently, so I must count myself fortunate to have escaped it until now.