Improper Usage of "Penultimate" Spotted in the Toronto Sun

Gordon Chong says Justin Trudeau "is the penultimate version of a used-car salesman, whose unctuous words matter more than the substance of what he says..."

Well, no. Justin Trudeau is the ultimate--and not as per the meaning of "penultimate," the second best--version of this archetype.

Chong seems to think it means something else--the epitome, the first of the first.

Not so.

Time to give that adjective a "pen"-ectomy, Gordo!

Update: On second thought, Justin Trudeau is not really like a fast-talking used-car salesman: if Justin had to make his living selling used cars, he'd probably starve because, whatever else he is, he is no slick talker.

Far from it.

He is someone whose speech is usually punctuated by an excess of "ahs," the pause that allows his to gather his thoughts as he plows on, fecklessly, to the end of his sentence.

Part-time drama teacher though he used to be, he would never make a credible Harold Hill, a.k.a. the Music Man. (Can't you just picture it? "Well, ah, you got, ah, some trouble, right, ah, here in, ah, River City.")

In the eloquence department, Justin Trudeau is no Barack Obama.

Heck, he's not even a Donald Trump.

He's more like a John Lennon--a mush-mouthed Utopian who enjoys sharing the things he "imagines" with you. And, sadly, for a large segment of Canadians, that sort of blarney is the "penultimate" (in the Chongian sense of the word).