Principal / Principle

[ElTico68]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:01pm

A pet peeve of mine is when people use the wrong words in writing. There are a couple that I've noticed happening more and more, and in theater, this is one of them. People use principal and principle interchangeably, which they're not. Each word means something completely different. It's amazing the number of times that I've read something about the "principles" of a show recently. So I'm going on a one-man crusade (hopefully a one-board crusade?) to correct this.

Principal: usually an adjective meaning "main", but it may also be a noun indicating the individual who runs a school, a key person in a business enterprise, or a deposit that draws interest.

Principle: a noun meaning "a generalization or law"

Do you want to join my crusade? What words have you noticed being used incorrectly? (and I don't mean IM shorthand or just overall bad grammar...)

[Princeton78]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:04pm

"Hey...I did good at work today!"

UGH! It drives me crazy!

"I did well at work today" is much better.

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:11pm

Getting me started on this topic could be a disaster in waiting, but I'll bite...

One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is people using the word "fortuitous" to mean "fortunate". IT DOES NOT. Fortuitous simply means random, accidental, by chance. It can be good, bad, or indifferent. Yes, it was fortuitous that you won the lottery, and it also happens to be fortunate.

It was also fortuitous that you tripped on the *one* cable laying in the middle of the floor and broke your kneecap. However, it was not fortunate.

More to come :) (Maybe I should do a daily grammar/vocabulary rant?)

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 12:11 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:12pm

Here's a new word I have been hearing a lot lately - "positivity." Is that a word? And if it is, why had I never heard it up until a few months ago, and then everywhere?

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 12:12 PM

[KMF_NYC]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:12pm

rant away jailyard!

[ElTico68]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:26pm

Jailyard... a man after my own... pet peeve!

Next word for me:

Capital/capitol

"Olympia is the capitol of WA"... WRONG

I've even seen this word mis-used in government documents.

Capital: refers to a city, wealth or resources
Capitol: a building where lawmakers meet.

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:29pm

I'm not even going to touch the your/you're; there/their/they're thing...it's been done to death and people will just never get it. Ever.

How about the FLAGRANT and clearly intentional shunning of my current favorite word in the English language, "dipsomaniac"? Obviously, someone at the OED hates drunk people and doesn't want us to have a pretty word for ourselves anymore!

I'm writing a letter, dammit.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:31pm

There are SO many words I've come across working in various industries that are just plain WRONG. Legal and insurance companies seem the worst. I actually had a temp job where the bulk of my day was editing documents (for date and actuary numbers only) and, stupid little boy with a BA in English, I began to edit the grammar and correct it. Then I was told, not so politely, to put it back the way it was. I even showed them how it was poor grammar and they didn't care.
But, with that said, the word impacted annoys the hell out of me. It's not proper the way it's used in most business instances.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:32pm

It disgusts me to no end when I see GROWN ADULTS confusing these three words:

there
their
they're

I remember saying to someone, "You can remember THERE because it has 'here' in it, as in a location. You can also remember THEIR because it has 'heir' in it, as in possession." Then, my friend goes, "If they don't know how to spell THEIR, they probably don't even know what an heir IS."

[Joshua488]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:32pm

Oops!

Double post... Updated On: 3/8/05 at 12:32 PM

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:33pm

You're so hot when you double post. Let's have babies.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:33pm

Sorry, jailyardguy... I didn't know you already posted about the THERE/THEIR/THEY'RE issue...!

[Joshua488]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:35pm

Maybe we should take this someplace else, jailyardguy...

How does your place sound?

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:35pm

You are a wicked, bad boy. Do you know what I'm going to do to you now?

That's right, I'm going to make you edit a 7th grader's term paper and NOT LET YOU USE A RED PEN.

See what happens when you're evil and don't read the whole thread first?

[Joshua488]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 12:41pm

That is just absolute torture!

Isn't there anything else I can do to make it up to you??

Okay, maybe we REALLY should take this elsewhere...

Posted: 3/8/05 at 1:52pm

I hate it when people thing the "'ve" part of a word "Would've" is actually of. I would of done something...

That irks me.

[Jwei123]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 1:56pm

a pet peeve of mine is....the saying 'pet peeve.'

[Princeton78]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 2:11pm

its & it's

My line of work finds me correcting the grammar of others on a regular basis, so spelling and grammar mistakes jump out at me rather quickly.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 2:47pm

Theatre and Theater.

That is all.

Posted: 3/8/05 at 2:56pm

Just remember, Your principal is always your PAL.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 3:29pm

Doxy, what would you say is the difference between theatre and theater, besides regionality?

I used to "do" my friends' papers in college when they had to take their required English courses. I so hate checking other people's grammar but I did it so much that I came to enjoy time with the university paper and a little pen. I started to wonder what their editors did there...
oh, by the way, you know how people always end sentences with ellipses (...)? If you end a sentence with one, it's actually supposed to be four of them....

[Jess1483]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 3:31pm

Not so much a pet peeve, but something that's often hard to remember.
Effect and affect:

Affect is always a verb and means to bring on our cause a change or to cause emotion or provoke feelings.
Example: The law banning minors from voting no longer affects me because I am over 18.
Example 2: The movie "Dead man walking" affected me deeply.

Effect can be used as a noun or a verb. As a noun, it means the result.
Example: The effects of the earthquake were devastating.
As a verb, it means to accomplish or bring about.
Example: If you want to effect a change in the policy, you must write a letter to the council.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 3:32pm

Wow BwaySinger. I never knew I had been misusing those ellipses.

And theater is the building, theatre is what happens in the building...or so I believe...in a very short description.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 3:38pm

hearing people use the term "conversate."

WTF?

You "CONVERSE" not "CONVERSATE"

[Elphaba]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 3:42pm

I did a good job, and I did it well.