Journal versus Diary

[jwalt]

I've been working on Spoons III. I came up with a small piece of dialog that made a distinction between Journal and Diary. Last few days, I've been wondering if there really is a difference. A brief web search hasn't clarified the issue for me, and seems at odds with my initial impression that a Diary might contain something like: "my brother is an idiot," while a Journal would be more apt to contain things like how nice the air smells after a rain. Anyone care to put me on the right track?

[Cassiebsg]

Now, english isn't my main language, so I might be completely off on this.

But for me a Diary is meant as a private thing, just you and your diary and it's not meant to be read by anyone else. Which means one will be inclined to add personal stuff... just like you said "my brother is an idiot!"
A Journal is not a private thing, so maybe there's more than one input written on it and might be meant to document a trip or expedition. Something you would most likely share with others.

But then again, this might just be the "idea" I have of the two words based on how and when I see the words in tv shows, movies or in a book.

[Grundislav]

Well, if we want to get linguistic, Wikipedia tells us that "The word diary comes from the Latin diarium ("daily allowance," from dies "day"). The word journal comes from the same root (diurnus "of the day") through Old French jurnal (modern French for day is jour)"

So basically they both mean a book in which to keep daily notes! Personally, I always thought of a "diary" as being something kids keep to write their private thoughts, whereas a journal is more of a "serious" thing. This is totally due to cultural depiction, however.

[Danvzare]

And this is where my knowledge of being British actually comes in handy!

You see in Britain, a diary isn't something you write in like a journal. Instead we use it more like a calendar or schedule planner. You'll even often hear people say things like "So make a note of it in your diary." for whenever someone wants you to remember to do something on a certain day (like attend an online tutorial).

And for me, that's where the difference lies.
A journal is a written document of events that have transpired, including your thoughts and feelings of those events.
A diary is what you look in every day, and use as a reminder of events and other useful tidbits of information. And like others have said, a diary is a more private and personal object.

[Slasher]

Can you imagine Captain Kirk writing in his Diary.. rather then a journal (log)?

[Snarky]

A journal can be an official or professional document (e.g. a researcher might have a journal to log experimental results).

And as Danvzare says, a diary can be a planner.

But when used in the sense of a book with private, retrospective notes of what happened in a day, I think they are essentially synonymous and used interchangeably. For example, take the Wikipedia page on the Hitler Diaries: "The Hitler Diaries (German: Hitler-Tagebücher) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million..."

There is perhaps a sense that journals are less narrative and more reflective than diaries, but I don't think you can make any meaningful firm distinction.

[Stupot]

It's interesting to look at the words 'journalist' and 'diarist'. A journalist researches and reports facts (or not) about events either for the consumption of the [paying] public or for the furtherment of the sciences etc. A diarist is simply someone who keeps a diary, which is not necessarily intended for anyone else to see (though if you have a big enough ego you might release them as a book before you die).

[Danvzare]

I have never once heard anyone use the word "diarist".
Are you sure that's a real word?

[Cassiebsg]

It's interesting to look at the words 'journalist' and 'diarist'.

These days you just get a blog and call yourself a "blogger".

[Snarky]

I have never once heard anyone use the word "diarist".
Are you sure that's a real word?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/diarist

Oh, and the OED has a neat feature to classify words into "frequency bands" based on how commonly used they are. "Diarist" is in Band 4:

Band 4 contains words which occur between 0.1 and 1.0 times per million words in typical modern English usage. Such words are marked by much greater specificity and a wider range of register, regionality, and subject domain than those found in bands 8-5. However, most words remain recognizable to English-speakers, and are likely be used unproblematically in fiction or journalism. Examples include overhang, life support, rewrite, nutshell, candlestick, rodeo, embouchure, insectivore (nouns), astrological, egregious, insolent, Jungian, combative, bipartisan, cocksure, methylated (adjectives), intern, sequester, galvanize, cull, plop, honk, skyrocket, subpoena, pee, decelerate, befuddle, umpire (verbs), productively, methodically, lazily, pleasurably, surreptitiously, unproblematically, electrostatically, al dente, satirically (adverbs).