As a further test I would suggest asking people to identify the first from the last in a series.
Ugh! At last you have hit upon the root of this eternal confusion (I remember e.g. the discussion about "quinzaine" meaning two weeks). Nobody ever uses "first from the last"! In spite of the logical hole, the penultimate is generally considered the second from the last (german "zweitletzter", symmetrical to the second, i.e. the "second from the first" which should be the second from the beginning, but this beginning is thin air). (reductio ad absurdum)