on principle/in principal blend?

[Alison Murie]

On Nov 20, 2008, at 11:11 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: on principle/in principal blend?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:50 PM -0500 11/20/08, Alison Murie wrote:
>> " While there are those in Parliament, like many Sunnis, who have
>> objections to elements of the pact, the Sadrists reject any agreement
>> with the Americans in principle."  NYT story on SOFA debate in Iraq
>> parliament.
>> AM
>>
> I'm not sure what that parliament debate concerned, but I take it
> that it wasn't about "sofa" vs. "couch" vs. "davenport"...
>
> (I don't see a major problem with "in principle" above, although "on
> principle" would be my usage; in any case, "in principal" would be
> impossible for me.)
>
> LH
........or how about "daybed?"    The much-discussed Status of Forces
Agreement.
I couldn't decide  whether "in principal"  is ever used to mean
"principally", but talked myself into it.  In this case "in
particular" might be closer to the meaning sought.
AM
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org