Trouble, Ideology, and Tollbooths

“Principal” and “principle” at times get muddled in the process of my writing. The best trick is to call to mind my youth and the time I spent outside the principal's office. That little printed metal plaque beside the office door, accompanied by the strength of memories associated with causing trouble then getting caught, is hard to forget. There's also the “add a d” mnemonic: Principled is another word for scrupulous, “principald” is a case of “Can I buy a vowel.”

Capital vs. capitol has also been problematic on occasion. Honestly it was an interest in Communism that finally cemented the distinction in my memory. In my research on the subject I kept seeing the contrast between that and capitalism. Capitol is a center of power, capital is an economic concept.

For the longest time I had issues with whether vs. weather; I'm not sure why but somewhere in my early education those two words got crossed in my mind. The Phantom Tollbooth made the difference: “I'm the Whether Man, not the Weather Man, for after all it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be.” Whether is conditional, weather is rain or sunshine.

For this week's mistake, I chose a sign found on a raffle entry box at a graduation ceremony, during which I was a stage assistant. Bear in mind, this is someone representing an educational institution who typed this, added a nice border, then printed it without noticing a missing vowel.