[Vwoolf] "principle" in place of "principal"

Fri Oct 25 05:44:07 EDT 2013

My standard works for UK-style editing were Hart's Rules, Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (a slimmer volume than it sounds), and Judith Butcher's Copy-editing. For US-style editing, I'd use MLA or The Chicago Manual of Style and an American dictionary such as Merriam-Webster.

I also have a nice little book called A Concise Dictionary of Foreign Expressions by B. A. Phythian, who was the headmaster at the boys' school that was twin to my all-girls' school next door. In fact, he must have been Stephen Barkway's headmaster. 

But most publishers would also have their own style guide, and you'd stick to that primarily. If they didn't have one, I'd make my own so that their proof-reader could check for consistency.

>________________________________
> From: Stuart N. Clarke <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>
>To: "list', 'woolf" <VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu> 
>Sent: Friday, 25 October 2013, 9:30
>Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] "principle" in place of "principal"
> 
>
>
>It’s understandable that it’s hard to be consistent, but why not just use 
“New Hart’s Rules” (OUP)?  As authors (as Anne Fernald implies/infers), we 
may not know them, but professional editors should know and apply their own 
house styles.  After all, writers for US academic publications are always 
being told to use the MLA style – something that is beyond me coz I don’t have 
the book(let?).
> 
>Stuart 
>From: Martin, James 
>Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 9:20 AM
>To: Diana 
Swanson ; list', 'woolf 
>Cc: mailto:paul at skandera.com 
>Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] "principle" in place of 
"principal"
>  
>Diana, 
I’ll give you the inside scoop on publishing companies and their editors. When I 
arrived at my current position, I cared about every comma, apostrophe and dash, 
be it an n-dash, an m-dash or a hyphen. There were differences in the usage and 
I wanted to adhere to the rules - not that I was a prescriptivist, mind you - 
but I simply wanted to do things correctly and in a unified manner. It turns out 
that when I asked the experienced, highly respected author of the company’s 
style sheet which dash should be used where, he said, “Relax, it’s just a 
horizontal line. Nobody cares.” 
>The 
readers, it turns out, “didn’t care” because they never complained to us 
formally about any abuses of punctuation. So if no one complains, you can’t be 
doing anything wrong, right? 
>However, 
when I was in school, I paid attention to these things from an early age and 
thought other pupils using our textbooks might notice the difference between 
random punctuation marks and those that seem to be used systematically. I am 
fully aware that standards change over the years (the interest in placing a 
comma before the final “and” in a series seems to wax and wane along with skirt 
length, for example) and am able to accept such changes. When you are working in 
a multilingual setting, and editors with backgrounds in British and American 
English who have been living in Germany for 20 years sit down at a table and try 
to set these rules in stone, it is difficult. The difficulty lies partly in the 
fact that we have read so many different publications during our studies and 
professional lives - encyclopedias and dictionaries from various centuries, 
magazines, newspapers, books, websites and textbooks (all with their own country 
of origin and printing, their own style sheets and editors or obvious lack of 
them) - that we begin to question what is indeed correct. We all had English 
teachers throughout our schooling who categorized gross errors according to 
their own educational backgrounds. And so they - and we - perpetuate stylistic 
myths and there is no one authority to answer all our questions. William Safire 
did it for years (and I loved his columns!), but I know of no one in the digital 
age who has offered his or her services as he did. Any 
takers?
>Jim
>  
>Von:vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu 
[mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu] Im Auftrag von Diana Swanson
>Gesendet: Donnerstag, 24. Oktober 2013 
15:38
>An: list', 'woolf
>Betreff: Re: [Vwoolf] "principle" in 
place of "principal"
> 
>I have noticed 
more and more such mistakes in scholarly books and text books over the last few 
years; I think that publishers have laid off too many editors and copy-editors. 
The causes? Probably in large part the consolidation of publishing companies, 
the pressure for quarterly profits, and the cutting of university budgets 
(especially state universities) so that university presses are being starved of 
funds.
>
>>>> Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net> 10/24/2013 8:25 AM 
>>>
>"Too fussy" might be a euphemism for "able 
to use words correctly." 
>  
>From:vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah M. Hall
>Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 
6:40 AM
>To: Stuart N. Clarke; woolf list
>Subject: Re: 
[Vwoolf] "principle" in place of "principal"
>  
>There 
was an interview on Radio 4 yesterday with a Scotsman who thinks that we are all 
too fussy about English grammar, and that phrases such as 'most beautifullest' 
are quite acceptable because Shakespeare used these constructions. The opposing 
view was that Shakespeare was writing poetry. Downward 
spiral?
>  
>  
>
>>________________________________
>> 
>>From:Stuart N. Clarke <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>
>>To: woolf list <VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu> 
>>Sent: Thursday, 24 October 2013, 11:33
>>Subject: Re:  [Vwoolf] "principle" in place of "principal"
>>  
>>Of course, we all  make mistakes, but there's just no end to failures in  copy-editing.
>> 
>>There's something  just not quite right about:
>> 
>>"This great church  ... is crowned by the second largest Roman dome after St  Peter's."
>> 
>>In his TV show, Dave  Gorman pointed out the faux spectrum, as in something like "She has taken all  the great tragic roles, from Ophelia to the Duchess of  Malfi".
>> 
>>Stuart
>> 
>>From:Jeremy Hawthorn 
>>Sent:Thursday, October 24, 2013 11:17 AM
>>To:Stuart N.  Clarke ; woolf list 
>>Subject:Re:  [Vwoolf] "principle" in place of  "principal"
>> 
>>And  another one. In the last week I have seen "interred" used where "interned" was  correct, and vice-versa. Thus people of Japanese descent were interred during  WW2, and the body was interned after the funeral.
>>
>>Jeremy 
  H
>>
>>________________________________
>> 
>>From:vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu [vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu] on behalf of Stuart N. Clarke  [stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com]
>>Sent: 24 October 2013  11:51
>>To: woolf list
>>Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] "principle" in  place of "principal"
>>The 2 words are  quite different, but I admit that I have to concentrate when typing them to  make sure I've chosen the right one!  I don't think they have (yet?)  become interchangeable.
>> 
>>Unlike "imply" and  "infer": in the Antipodes, even in scientific papers, the words are used  interchangeably, although I was surprised to find the use as early as 1931,  e.g.:
>> 
>>M. H. C., 'The Scheme of Things', NZ Evening Post,  Vol. CXII, No. 112 (7 November 1931), 9: '"Oxbridge" . plainly infers  [sic] Oxford'; http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19311107.2.40.1
>> 
>>Stuart
>> 
>>From:Sunjoo  Lee 
>>Sent:Thursday, October 24, 2013 10:38 AM
>>To:woolf list 
>>Subject:[Vwoolf] "principle" in place of  "principal"
>> 
>>Hi,  everyone,  
>> 
>>I  have been a bit bugged by seeing "principle" when the word has to be  "principal." 
>>I saw  that happening in doctoral dissertations and (in a few cases) articles from  well-known journals, or even books from good publishers. 
>> 
>>And  this afternoon, from Heidegger's Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics (Indiana UP, 1997), I found: 
>> 
>>"Thus  the knowledge of beings in general (Metaphysica Generalis) and the  knowledge of its principle divisions (Metaphysica Specialis) become a  "science established on the basis of mere reason."" (6). 
>> 
>>And  now I wonder, has "principle" been accepted as an alternate spelling of  "principal"? Only I haven't been aware of it? 
>>Dictionaries  I use don't have such information. Has anyone else wondered about this? 
>> 
>> 
>>Sunjoo  
>>  
>________________________________
> _______________________________________________
>Vwoolf mailing 
list
>Vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Vwoolf mailing list
>Vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20131025/5f29e141/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 34 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20131025/5f29e141/attachment.gif>