Have we done 'prewarn'?

[HopeClearwater]

People keep 'prewarning' each other these days. What happened to simply warning someone that something is going to happen? Warnings have to happen before the event or they aren't warnings.

Sigh...

I agree. Warn is enough. Unless you're warning about a warning, I suppose....

Ditto pre-order.

I don't know about pre-order.

I could go into a cafe and order a sandwich that I want immediately.

Or I could phone them up and pre-order a platter of sandwiches that I want on Tuesday at 12 for a meeting.

That's still just ordering though.
If you can't do something after an event (post-order, post-warn) then you don't need to use the pre prefix.

You can order your sandwiches 2 years ahead, but you're still just ordering them, not pre-ordering.

Actually, I think pre-order has been appropriated in marketing to mean ordering something that is not yet available, eg pre-ordering a book that has a future publication date. If a word provides a distinction then I can't see a problem.

I agree that pre-warn has no distinction from warn that I can think of, so it is silly.

The other silly one is pre-prepare.

Pre-book? As in "I have pre-booked some cinema tickets".

And while we're at it, what about "oven-baked"? Are there any other ways to bake?

Mrs you could tandoori bake I guess but you're right that it's mostly tautology. As is pre-warn.
People seem to need to give everything extra emphasis.

Yes! So much extra emphasis on stuff these days. 'Opposite' is now 'polar opposite'. Being rushed to hospital is now being 'blue-lighted in'. All the drama... And then the overstating of bog standard everyday tasks: finding a nice pair of curtains becomes 'sourcing window dressings' and there's all those people for whom phoning a few builders and arranging a plumber to come round has turned into 'project management. Pffft.

Pan fry is OK thought because you could also deep fry or wok fry.

Hand cooked. Isn't everything?

The one that really irritates me though is "sheer volume of traffic".

Or isn't everything NOT hand cooked, because you don't cook with your hands? (I know some people have warm hands but not that warm) :o