Re: First Thing's (?) First

Subject: Re: First Thing's (?) First
From: "Ned Bedinger" <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 14:31:17 -0700



----- Original Message -----
From: "Parcell, Michelle" <Michelle_Parcell -at- G1 -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 1:55 PM
Subject: First Thing's (?) First


> A couple of people in my department are debating the correct spelling of
> the phrase "first things first." One thinks it's as I just wrote, as an

First, you must consider the obvious "first things"--

Do you think there is a right version? You may have another think coming.
Are there regional variations? In spite of jet travel and mass media,
regionalisms do exist. You might be able to conclude that the majority in a
region say it one way, but in another region you'd have another thing
coming.

For a measured approach to researching the question, you could google both
phrases and count the unique hits that show a preference for a usage. This
is a descriptive technique, and it offers no assurances of linguistic
correctness according to a stock phrase as it entered the language, but I
feel that most of us would go with the google test, if it mattered at all.

You might get stronger direction from copyediting-l.

Ned Bedinger
Ed Wordsmith Technical Communications



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References:
First Thing's (?) First: From: Parcell, Michelle

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