The Principle

At the weekend, I found myself defending a decision I had made with the answer "yes, but it's the principle". It got me to thinking, what does "it's the principle" mean to us blokes? Is it a deep held belief that we harbour, an ethos or a set of values held as firmly as a bodybuilders butt? It's something that we say all the time and we often use it to defend a variety of decisions ranging from how many beers we're going to drink through to a major career decision. In reality, it's just an excuse for us to be stubborn and pig headed, if we actually stopped an thought about it for a second, "it's the principle" actually translates to "it's my ball and I'm going home!" So, next time you catch yourself saying "it's the principle" you'd better be talking about Mrs Krabappel's on/off again boyfriend, Seymour.