Hi, Kiran! Your knowledge of English is very good. "Happen to come across" is quite idiomatic.

Most native English speakers in America would say:
My exams were moved up a week.

Well we might, but I always get "moved up" and "moved back" confused so I avoid both.

>>..surprised to see that Oxford English Dictionary (OED) do not acknowledge the usage.

>..am pretty certain that prepone is in the OED.

this piqued my curiosity of course, so I peeked. prepone is not in OED2, but it's going to be in the new B&M edition; here's the Sept. 2001 draft entry:

1. trans.To place in front of; to set before. Obs. rare.

1549 R. CROWLEY in Psalter of David XVI. sig.C.iv.v, I do prepone and set the Lord alwaye before myne eyes: He is styll at my right hande, leaste I fall in anye wyse. 1625 A. GARDYNE Characters & Ess. Ep. Ded. 5, I stood, and studi'd, whose præponed Name Should dye in Graine, and Luster lend to Them.



2. trans. To bring forward to an earlier time or date. Opposed to postpone.
In later use, most frequent in Indian English.

1941 M. KELLEY This Great Argument iv. 105 He [sc. Milton] preponed to a period before the foundation of the world certain dogmatic matters connected with the accession of Christ to the mediatorial office of king. 1978 Church Times 13 Oct. 8/5 Longman would like to announce that the publication date for Linelights has been preponed (brought forward) from 16th October to 25th September. 1987 Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East (B.B.C.) 14 Oct. 8698/B2 The winter session of Indian parliament, which is normally convened in the third week of November, has been preponed to early next month. 1997 Independent 26 July I. 15/3 On my recent visit to Delhi, I was handed a note by my client's driver who met me... The note stated that my meeting with my client had been preponed. 2001 Times of India (Nexis) 22 Feb., [The] transport minister..decided to ask schools to prepone their examinations and start summer vacations in April in view of a transport crisis. [OED online]
(EA)

In a world of procrastinators, there's seldom a need for "prepone".

tsuwm, I can always count on you to peak. I see that OED uses the term Indian as it really should be used. (hi, sjm) And, Kiran, if I heard someone say "My tests were advanced", I wouldn't think to ask how far; I would think that those tests were more difficult than regular tests--that they would be for the students who are more advanced than average. I'm not saying my way is better, please understand; just providing information.

Folks, brace yourself for what might seem to be the most idiotic question you have heard in a long time. (taking deep breath e)Are there country specific editions of the OED that are published for selected populations of English speakers?

I have a dictionary on my desk and I am staring at it in utter bewilderment as I write. This is the ninth edition of the OED, and has the word prepone listed as an entry. It doesn't say anything about the origin.
tsuwm's entry above, about Indian English, sent me burrowing in the much ignored opening pages and sure enough, it says there, in an italicised blurb, that the edition is meant for sale only in the subcontinent. Books are relatively less expensive in India and friends travelling east always return with supplies for my shelves. This one is almost certainly, one such transatlantic traveller. Which brings me back to my question. And are there French, German, or Chinese editions too, apart from this Indian one?

you prolly don't have the OED (as we think of it) on your desk. the OED is 20 humongous volumes (or so). there are all kinds of other editions which have versions of the OED imprimatur, such as the Shorter Oxford, and the Teeny-Tiny Print Oxford, etc. this is the first I've heard of "foreign" editions--although, come to think on it, Jesse Sheidlower (formerly of Random House) is the new N American editor.

Yes, but tsuwm, having the Oxford imprimatur, should allow the removal of words from 'THE OED', to suit whatever version, (whether concise, abbreviated, or shorter), the publisher has decided on. The one that I was referring to is called, concise. Can a version include a word, that the mother of all them, doesn't as yet acknowledge? This appears to be the case with prepone.

since the Big Book is only very occasionally updated, I would suspect that the smaller versions are more current. but this will change with the coming of the Big Online.

this does not answer the question, howsoever, of different versions..

My boss, bibliophile par excellence, runs a used book store (as would be fitting). This profession occasionally takes him on perilous journeys, as it did last year.

At an estate sale in Syracuse, NY, he saw a box (only just opened for the occasion!) of the entire 20-something set with no price tag. He asked the person running the sale (there's got to be a word for this!) how much, and she yawned and said, "oh, 20 bucks, if you can carry it out of here."

Well, carry it out he did, across a two-lane road to his car. He was nearly hit by a passing truck, and avoided injury to his own self by stepping back just enough so as to lose his balance and send the OED box over onto its side. Some volumes ended up damaged. We now have the entire set at the store for display purposes/our own use.

[/digression]

AnnaS! I have an acute attack of green eyed monsteritis!

I first get hit with the endearing boss tale (mine is a beady eyed tartar ) and continue reading glumly, only to be knocked down by the OED heist!

Hi again,

I borrowed the Concise OED - 10 th Edition (Indian Edition) from one of my friends and could find the word prepone (Page=1129). It also indicates the word to be indian, now I know why I used that without any hesitation, giving a few of my American friends a hard time.

We also use the word 'MUG' for studying by memorising. Dont tell me I didn't warn you when this word gets added to any of the standard dictionaries ;-).

Eg: That guy just mugs and never makes an attempt to understand the concepts.

Thank you all, I have already started to enjoy the list.

Lots of Love,
Kiran

In the UK (I don't know about other parts of the world), we have mug up, meaning to gain a quick but superficial grasp of a subject by concentrated study.

E.g., I'll have mug up the Flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh for my exams.

Bingley

Us USns say "cram" instead of mugs or mug.

E.g., I have to cram for a test tonight so I'll have to pass on the party.

USns say "cram" instead of mugs

And we refer to that portion of our populace who have no magical powers as crammles.

It occurred to me that Connie's "I'll have to pass on the party" might be confusing to non-native English speakers. This usage means to miss, or to skip over; for ex., in the card game of bridge, when it is your turn to bid but you can't, you say "pass". Another way to write that sentence would be I'll have to pass (on going to the party), though that's not necessarily a whole lot clearer.

We also use 'pass on' in other ways. We might say, for ex., "The mantle of leadership has passed on from the retired executive to her replacement." This isn't a very common usage, but would be understood.

Many people use it as a euphemism, also. If someone says their uncle passed on, it means he died.

In Connie's sentence, the word on is "connected" with the party, and the verb pass stands alone. In my two examples, the words 'pass on' constitute one term.

To retreat to Kiran's exam. Around here we would probably understand both "got moved up a week"or "my exams were advanced by a week". as long as you add the "by a week" we would probably also add some colorful adjectives about the kind of professor who would do that sort of thing.