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"First things first." It should be obvious to any writer who has done enough
reading in his/her lifetime. But here are a couple of cites that I came up
with:
Despite what Ned says, of course there is a right version. Just because the
majority say it one way vs. another way does not mean the spelling is
variable (and I'm just curious, how different would it SOUND when people say
"first things first" vs. "first thing's first"?).
Oh, and Google returns 279,000 "first things first" results, vs. 5,700 for
"first thing's first."
-----Original Message-----
From: Parcell, Michelle [mailto:Michelle_Parcell -at- G1 -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 1:55 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: First Thing's (?) First
All,
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
abbreviated version of "first things go first," and another thinks it's
"first thing's first," as in, "the first thing is first." I cannot find a
resource that provides a definitive answer to this.
Does anyone know, or can anyone direct me to a resource that discusses this
phrase?
Thanks!
Michelle Parcell
Group 1 Software
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