diff --git a/examples/playbooks/roletest.yml b/examples/playbooks/roletest.yml
index 5370c004ebc..d973565cb45 100644
--- a/examples/playbooks/roletest.yml
+++ b/examples/playbooks/roletest.yml
@@ -26,10 +26,12 @@
 
   - hosts: all
 
-    set_up:
+    pre_tasks:
 
-        # set up tasks are executed prior to roles.
-        - local_action: shell echo "hi this is a setup step about {{ inventory_hostname }}"
+        # these tasks are executed prior to roles.
+        # this might be a good time to signal an outage window or take a host out of a load balanced pool
+
+        - local_action: shell echo "hi this is a pre_task step about {{ inventory_hostname }}"
 
     roles:
 
@@ -53,15 +55,16 @@
 
     tasks:
 
-        # you can still have loose tasks/handlers and they will execute after roles
+        # you can still have loose tasks/handlers and they will execute after roles are applied
 
         - shell: echo 'this is a loose task'
 
-    tear_down:
+    post_tasks:
 
-        # just to provide a syntactic mirroring to 'set_up', tear_down runs dead last in the play.
+        # just to provide a syntactic mirroring to 'pre_tasks', these run absolute last in the play.
+        # this might be a good time to put a host back in a load balanced pool or end an outage window
 
-        - local_action: shell echo 'this is a teardown task about {{ inventory_hostname }}'
+        - local_action: shell echo 'this is a post_task about {{ inventory_hostname }}'
 
 
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
index b1fc697611b..ad1ae4de587 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class Play(object):
        'hosts', 'name', 'vars', 'vars_prompt', 'vars_files',
        'tasks', 'handlers', 'user', 'port', 'include',
        'sudo', 'sudo_user', 'connection', 'tags', 'gather_facts', 'serial',
-       'any_errors_fatal', 'roles', 'set_up', 'tear_down'
+       'any_errors_fatal', 'roles', 'pre_tasks', 'post_tasks'
     ]
 
     # *************************************************
@@ -135,10 +135,10 @@ class Play(object):
         new_handlers = []
         new_vars_files = []
 
-        set_up = ds.get('set_up', None)
-        if type(set_up) != list:
-            set_up = []
-        for x in set_up:
+        pre_tasks = ds.get('pre_tasks', None)
+        if type(pre_tasks) != list:
+            pre_tasks = []
+        for x in pre_tasks:
             new_tasks.append(x)
 
         # variables if the role was parameterized (i.e. given as a hash) 
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class Play(object):
                 new_vars_files.append(vars_file)
 
         tasks = ds.get('tasks', None)
-        tear_down = ds.get('tear_down', None)
+        post_tasks = ds.get('post_tasks', None)
 
         handlers = ds.get('handlers', None)
         vars_files = ds.get('vars_files', None)
@@ -197,11 +197,11 @@ class Play(object):
             handlers = []
         if type(vars_files) != list:
             vars_files = []
-        if type(tear_down) != list:
-            tear_down = []
+        if type(post_tasks) != list:
+            post_tasks = []
 
         new_tasks.extend(tasks)
-        new_tasks.extend(tear_down)
+        new_tasks.extend(post_tasks)
         new_handlers.extend(handlers)
         new_vars_files.extend(vars_files)
         ds['tasks'] = new_tasks