Memo to the blogosphere (or blogtopia, and y!sctp!):
Principle:
1. A basic truth, law, or assumption: the principles of democracy.
2. a. A rule or standard, especially of good behavior: a man of principle; b. The collectivity of moral or ethical standards or judgments: a decision based on principle rather than expediency.
3. A fixed or predetermined policy or mode of action.
4. A basic or essential quality or element determining intrinsic nature or characteristic behavior: the principle of self-preservation.
5. A rule or law concerning the functioning of natural phenomena or mechanical processes: the principle of jet propulsion.
Principal:
adj.
1. First, highest, or foremost in importance, rank, worth, or degree; chief. See Synonyms at “chief”.
2. Of, relating to, or being financial principal, or a principal in a financial transaction.
n.
1. One who holds a position of presiding rank, especially the head of an elementary school or high school.
2. A main participant in a situation.
3. A person having a leading or starring role.
I recognize that homonyms are a pain in the backside, but when you’re writing, it’s helpful if you use the right word.
And as long as we’re being persnickity, people are “fazed” by stunning news, not “phased,” and the past tense of lead is “led,” not “lead.” Tougher editing for bloggers!
Absolutely. This one set my teeth on edge because I saw it three times in different places this week.
And (he said, returning from Steve Clemons’ blog), for God’s sake, “its” only has an apostrophe when it’s a contraction!
Copyeditors R us. 😉
There are their baseballs. They’re going to pick up them, correct?
worse than homonyms to me, is the inability to alphabatize one’s blog roll according to the rules.
and the rules are, you go by the last name of a person, if the person’s blog is named after that person,
blogs with “a” or “the” as the first word are not placed in the “a’s” or “t’s,” but rather alphabatized by the second word in the blog.
And as long as we’re being persnickity, people are “fazed” by stunning news, not “phased,”
Oh, I dunno…I thought it was pretty funny when I wrote I was “phased by news of a new Star Trek movie”…
I second Skippy’s comment, and add only that it is incredibly annoying that the common automated blogrolling services (I use del.icio.us; but the same is true of blogrolling and others) aren’t programmed to alphabatize properly. But I’m waaaay to lazy to update and sort my blogroll by hand!
Yeah, actor, but there’s an element of wonder at that one: intentional or unintentional pun?
We could append all articles to the end of the name, but that would look weird. “Continental Op, The”
For those who know how to use the “search” function of their browsers, alphabetical listings are not necessary. Can we please find something more important to complain about? Please?