Somebody call PETA!

Thanks to the Food Network for this one.

Order on the court

My university is hosting the Big Sky men's basketball tournament, so everyone in Greeley is very excited. The local paper, together with our campus paper, even put out a special section. One of the ads in the section caught my attention. The ad, for our on-campus bookstore, includes the following sentence:

Check out our website on Wednesday, March 9 to preorder your championship gear!

This ad looks like a jinx waiting to bite. But more importantly to those interested in writing, "preorder" is not a word. There is no way to "preorder" something, even a championship T-shirt. Even the spell checker, which is the dumbest thing I've ever encountered, knows it's not a word.

The prefix "pre" means "before." So wouldn't "preordering" mean that you bought the T-shirt before the team had won the championship? How would that be possible? You could order something in advance, but in advance of what? What does the "pre" in "preorder" actually refer to? Does it mean you get to order your stuff before everyone else, or before it goes onsale? I don't know how that would work.

Usually, the prefix "pre" is used before a noun to form an adjective. For instance, a preseason game is one that occurs before the season starts and a pregame ritual is something a player does before a game begins. The use of "pre" with the verb "order" makes for an awkward word that doesn't make sense.

Good luck Bears!