Buzzwords Don't Buzz Unless You Know the Words

While reading a financial advice column in his local newspaper, Mose read that homeowners could pay down their mortgage quicker by make an extra payment once in a while.

But, he wrote, you don't want the mortgagor to apply that money to an escrow account for taxes or insurance, so put the extra payment in a separate envelope that is clearly marked.

"Make sure you write 'principle only' in big, bold letters on the envelope and on the check," the columnist wrote.

Some mortgage companies have payment booklets with a form for mortgagees to designate "any amount you want applied directly to the principle."

And, he suggested, keep a record of what you have designated "to be applied only to the principle."

You wouldn't expect a self-syndicated financial adviser to know the difference between principle and principal. But you should expect the journalists who edit his column to know.

An automated spell-checker won't help. You just have to read it and notice. Oh, and you have to know the difference.

Mose once developed an editing test that included this multiple-choice sentence: The candidate said abortion was the principal/principle issue of the campaign.

Of course, many people have opinions about abortion that are a matter of principle. But if it's the main (primary, No. 1, etc.) issue, it's the principal one.

Was that a trick question? No, but it was one that required many (maybe most) students to stop momentarily to consider the proper word.

That's a good practice for all journalists (who, after all, have to be students, too) when it comes to certain words. Mose calls such things "buzzwords": easily confused or commonly misused words.

Homonyms such as principal/principle certainly qualify.

As do flack/flak. Mose recently spotted that confusion on a page proof after a writer reported that public officials had caught "flack" from some constituents.

The AP Stylebook can be helpful in deciding those matters, such as the difference between 1) a slang term for a press agent and 2) a barrage of criticism (or certain anti-aircraft fire).

But first, you have to recognize the "buzzwords."

For too many journalists, those words fit into the "unknown unknowns" category. That is, they don't know that they don't know those commonly confused terms.

The solution: Read more.