Post-apocalyptic

I've posted before on my suspicion of anything that starts with the word "new" (New Labour, New Age, New Wave etc.). Having just seen a band described as "post-rock", I would now like to post about my uneasiness about the prefix "post-". When applied to historical periods, it is fairly innocent, though still implies a kind of a let-down, as though the important thing is what just happened before: "post-war" seems to be saying, "Well, we had the war, we beat Hitler, now what?" It gets worse though, when we're talking about movements, ideologies and theories.

Postmodernism

I've talked about this in the past and won't do so again now because I don't want some snot-nosed grad student telling me how ignorant I am.

Post-structuralism

I never managed to understand this one, although an old girlfriend tried very hard to explain it to me. (Since we were post-coital at the time, I wasn't paying a lot of attention.) When I was studying Eng Lit, plain old structuralism was considered rather daring.

Post-punk

Let's face it, punk wasn't all that good. 90% of it was spoiled kids getting angry because they couldn't play their instruments. Post-punk was just what they called it when they needed to re-market it.

Postfeminism

Oh yeah, so feminism happened, women have equality, and now we just need to celebrate Girl Power. Yeah, sure, just like we live in a classless society and Barack Obama has abolished racism. Dream on, post-sisters.

Postindustrial

Actually, that's not a bad word, just overused, generally in ways that mean "this is why you're unemployed." And it's worth remembering that industry is still necessary. Someone has to make those silicon chips we're using to create blogotopia.

Post-human

Not yet, matey, not yet. Maybe when the machines finally kill that Connor kid.

Post-its

OK, they're useful for sticking shopping lists on the fridge, but otherwise they're just annoying. Come on, you've got a PC, a laptop and a telephone with a higher IQ than most middle-managers; you don't need to write things down on gluey bits of paper.

And here's another reason why I don't like words with "post" in them: I never know when to hyphenate. Did you know, for example, that "post-mediastinum" takes a hyphen, while its adjective, "postmediastinal" does not?


By the way, "post-apocalyptic" is one of the few post-words that I really like. Apart from providing a way to talk about Mad Max and still sound intellectual, the combination of consonants gives your mouth a really good work-out.