I dont' think we have any confusion about what antepenultimate means, Jackie.
And Dub' I think you've given me supporting evidence for my contention that "third from the last" is ambiguous. I don't see how switching between cardinal and ordinal numbers should change anything. And whether "third from the last" refers to the antepenultimate or the preantepenultimate depends on whether you do your counting by counting items or counting moves. To me the use of the word "from" implies that you are counting moves. The last item is zeroth from the last, i.e., it is the last item. You might wait a while for your folks to forget* or pick some other random couple and ask them which is first from the last. At the risk of being accused of reinyartation® I say: It's ambiguous. The hell with it.
Ha! Then you'll be accused not only of not having better things to do, but of being obsessive about your trivialities.
