hat is the difference between "pre-drill a hole" and "drill a hole"? Is there a difference between "order" and "pre-order"?

Order = order something that is available now
Pre-order = order something that is not available till later

Drill a hole just means drill a hole, pre-drill a hole means drill a hole that you will need later.

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Drill a hole just means drill a hole, pre-drill a hole means drill a hole that you will need later.

Why can't you just say "Drill a hole" instead of "Pre-drill a hole". No matter what, you have to use a drill, and you're wasting a prefix.

Also, how can there be a "pre-order"? You can either order something or you can't. I'd consider this a "reservation".

Conserve your prefixes or we'll run out!

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Originally posted by Proofreader:

quote:

Drill a hole just means drill a hole, pre-drill a hole means drill a hole that you will need later.

Why can't you just say "Drill a hole" instead of "Pre-drill a hole". No matter what, you have to use a drill, and you're wasting a prefix.

Also, how can there be a "pre-order"? You can either order something or you can't. I'd consider this a "reservation".

Perhaps you would. However almost every on-line shopping site I've ever used makes this distinction. An order for for something they can deliver now and a pre-order is for an item that will be available sometime in the future. It's particularly common when ordering books, music or dvds that have a release date scheduled but have not yet been released. Personally it's a distinction that I find useful. Often pre-ordering will carry a good discount. Drill and pre-drill perhaps less so but if you have ever bought furniture from Ikea you know that the holes are pre-drilled... they are there already, you don't have to drill them. Sure the actual physical operation is "drilling" but the purpose is pre-drilling. Again, it seems a perfectly sensible and useful distinction to me. Perhaps it doesn't seem so to you but like it or not, that's the normal usage.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more this seems like an entirely uncontentious usage of "pre". "Pre-cut", "pre-moulded", "pre-pay", "pre-allocate", "pre-wash" all seem perfectly normal usage to me and all have the meaning of doing something before it is actually needed so that when it is needed it's ready to go. I can't understand why anybody would object.

The all make sense to me, too, with the exception of "pre-drill" a hole. I have to agree with Proof on that one.