Pre-pone all you want

The first thing I learnt when I started working with native English speakers was that prepone is not a word. It's not a word recognized by any of the English dictionaries.

For a logical mind, if postpone is to put off something to a later date prepone must mean advance the date earlier. I never had any doubt about the validity of the word till the spell-check complained about it.

Every year when dictionary publishers announce the new words added, I eagerly look for pre-pone. millions of IT professionals work in the English speaking world. The word should have seeped into the language by now. But there is a small problem. IT guys postpone delivery dates but never prepone.

Yesterday Sarah Snider used the word on CNN to report that Mirza-Malik wedding is preponed. That could be beginning. Dictionary publishers are going to outsource the survey of new words to India. I hope Indians will take the opportunity to slip in the word. It won't be too long before my spell-check stops complaining about me preponing a release date.