Post, Entry or Article?

This is a guest post by Eric Cummings. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here.

My co-blogger and I have come across an interesting usage problem. We don’t know what to call what we write.

It feels strange to refer to blog posts as “articles.” “Articles” sounds official, proper and very old media. “Posts” is the more common word, but it demeans the quality of the writing. I wonder:

How is guest posting for another blog any different than writing an article for a magazine or newspaper?

What if that article I wrote shows up online? Is it now a post?

Where do Slate, Politico and other “e-zines” fit in to all of this?

If someone writes a personal online journal, wouldn’t the word “entry” be more appropriate?

With these questions swirling through my head, I want to pin down exactly what these words mean.

Article

Article, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, comes from the Latin word for joint, articulus. The word’s meaning was expanded to mean something that is part of a larger whole, specifically in writing. Originally, articles were sub-clauses in a document, as in “articles of faith,” “articles of war” or more famously, the Articles of the Constitution.

For our purposes, the word article gained its more modern definition in the early 1700′s:

“Article: a literary composition forming materially part of a journal, magazine, or other collection, but treating a specific topic distinctly and independently.”

What is important here is that an article refers to a piece of writing distinct from the journal, magazine or collection of writing it is a part of. I certainly think this would apply to entries on a blog or pieces on a website. Each post is distinct from the larger blog it is a part of. Of course, certain blogs, like online novels, would not fit this definition.

Post

The original definition of the word “post” was “a stick in the ground.” In the 1800′s, this definition morphed to include notices on those posts. According to the Oxford English Dictionary,

Post: to affix (a paper) to a public place”

The true technological origin of the word came shortly after the birth of the Internet, when forums and Usenet boards appropriated the word “post.” Early Internet users “posted” messages to one another, and the message itself became a “post.” As blogs and blogging became popular, the entries on blogs became “blog posts,” or “posts” for short.

Entry

According to the Oxford English Dictionary,

Entry: an item in a list or an account book.”

And of course this includes entries in a journal. Since a lot of early weblogs were journals, the term “entry” was very common.

So, what should you call it?

Well, I still don’t know.

For me, unless I’m writing a personal journal or a travel blog, I wouldn’t use the word “entry.” It has a very informal tone.

As for the “article” vs “post” debate, like a lot of usage, it comes down to preference. I think an article is something that goes on a larger website, likePolitico, Pitchfork or Slate. A piece of writing on a website with a front page with multiple links–or content not displayed in reverse chronological order–I would call an article. A “post” is a piece of writing on a blog, for example, DailyBlogTips.

The line is blurry. What do you think? What do you prefer to call what you write when you blog?

Eric Cummings writes for On Violence, a blog on military and foreign affairs, art, and violence, written by two brothers–one a soldier and the other a pacifist.

“Hell-bent” and “Hell-for-leather”

A reader has asked about the expression hell-bent for leather.

The expression fuses “hell-bent” with another expression, “hell-for-leather.”

The bent in hell-bent is the past participle of the verb to bend, a word with at least 23 definitions in the OED.

To be “bent on something” is to be determined to do a specific thing. Ex. He was bent upon becoming Prime Minister. She was bent on proving him wrong.

One of the meanings of “to bend” is “to go in a certain direction.” Literally, then, to be “hell-bent” would mean “going in the direction of hell.” The way we use it, to be “hell-bent on something” means to be wholeheartedly determined to get something done. The OED gives these citations:

1731 Ab-origines in Arms..did then resort, In Haste to Susquehanna Fort, Hell bent on Thoughts of Massacree.

1835 A large encampment of savages,..‘hell-bent on carnage’.

1891The state of Texas, or at least its legislature, went hell-bent for the reform of railroads.

The OED defines “hell-bent” as both adjective and adverb:

hell-bent: adj.   Usually in predicative use, with on, upon, or infinitive. Determined to achieve something at all costs; passionately or recklessly intent.

hell-bent: adv.  In a hell-bent manner; with no effort or resources spared; all out, wholeheartedly, totally; determinedly, doggedly.

The expression hell-for-leather means at “breakneck speed, very fast” and was originally used with reference to riding on horseback. It may have originated with Kipling. The earliest citation in the OED is from an 1889 Kipling story, “The Valley of the Shadow.”

CAPT. M. (Jealously) Then don’t say it! Leave him alone. It’s not bad enough to croak over. Here, Gaddy, take the chit to Bingle and ride hell-for-leather. It’ll do you good. I can’t go.
JUNIOR CHAPLAIN. (Flicking M.’s charger.) That’ll do, thanks. Turn in, Gadsby, and I’ll bring Bingle back–ahem–’hell-for-leather.’

Take An Example

The following comment got me thinking about the waysexample is used:

I hope we all can take an example from Shakespeare, and dare to break the structured guidelines.

Since the writer was talking about Shakespeare the writer and not “Shakespeare” the works, a more accurate wording would have been:

I hope we all can take Shakespeare as an example, and dare to break the structured guidelines.

Alternately, the writer could have written:

I hope we all can take Shakespeare as our example, and dare to break the structured guidelines.

Here are some expressions that use example.

for example: I like fruit, for example, strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries.

by way of example: Let’s take the works of George Eliot by way of example.

to make an example {of a person) : The captain made an example of the thief by ordering a punishment of ten lashes.

to set an example: People in positions of governmental power ought to set an example for honesty.

to take example: Take example from the life of Samuel Johnson and be kind to the helpless.

What Does “to bring to bear” Mean?

This is a guest post by Julie Link. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. 
 
The Indianapolis Star recently reported that Bristol Palin “is bringing her experience as a teen mom to bear on the small screen” (February 24, page A11, no author cited). The phrase caused me to wince, so I did a quick search on the usage of  “bring to bear.”
 
The first definitions I collected confirmed my intuition that the phrase was misused. ThesaurusReference.com defines the term as “have to do with” and lists as synonyms, among other terms, “apply,” “draw a parallel to,” and “relate to.” AudioEnglish.net is more specific, offering the definition “bring into operation or effect.”
 
I was puzzled. What does Ms. Palin’s motherhood have to do with the small screen? How does it bring into operation the TV show she will participate in? Surely the power of her mother’s notoriety does not extend that far!
 
Further clicking on the web uncovered this definition from TheFreeDictionary.com: “to put to good use.” Ah—exoneration of the writer! If sharing Bristol’s life as a teen mom can encourage other teens to think carefully before putting themselves at risk of an unplanned pregnancy, perhaps she is indeed bringing her experience to bear. Hats off to her!
 
But the phrase still displeased my ear. The problem is the ambiguous word “on.” The first definition of “bring to bear” includes “on” as a tacit piece of the verb and is, therefore, a transitive verb requiring a direct object: “The president of the board brought the dismal sales figures to bear on the new budget.” The sales figures were related to the new budget; they played a role in bringing the new budget into operation.
 
The second definition, “to put to good use,” is intransitive: “All the skater’s skills were brought to bear in her attempt to win the gold medal.” So the question is, in the Star report, is the word “on” part of the verb “bring to bear” with “the small screen” as the direct object or is it a preposition having at its object “the small screen”?
 
With a heart of goodwill, I will assume the writer used the phrase in the intransitive sense and will join him in hoping that Ms. Palin’s experience will be put to good use. I maintain, however, that all writing should be precise and unambiguous and I bring to bear William Safire’s exhortation that writing should always please the ear.
 
Julie Link is an experienced editor and avid lexiphile who loves reading and writing about language and grammar.