Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (2 page)

agent provocateur,
pl.
agents provocateurs.

aggravate.
Strictly, means to make a bad situation worse. If you walk on a broken leg, you may aggravate the injury. People can never be aggravated, only circumstances.

aggression, aggressiveness.
Aggression
always denotes hostility.
Aggressiveness
can denote hostility or merely boldness.

aggrieve.

Agincourt, Battle of.
1415.

agoraphobia.
Fear of open spaces.

Agra,
India, site of Taj Mahal.

agreeable.

Aguascalientes.
City and state in central Mexico.

Aguilera, Christina.
(1980–) American singer.

Agusta.
Not
Aug-
. Italian helicopter company; formally, Gruppo Agusta.

Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud.
(1956–) President of Iran (2005–).

à huis clos.
(Fr.) “Behind closed doors.”

Ah, Wilderness!
Comedic play by Eugene O'Neill (1933).

aid and abet.
A tautological gift from the legal profession. The two words together tell us nothing that either doesn't say on its own. The only distinction is that
abet
is normally reserved for contexts involving criminal intent. Thus it would be careless to speak of a benefactor abetting the construction of a church or youth club.

aide-de-camp,
pl.
aides-de-camp.

aide-mémoire,
pl. same.

AIDS
is not correctly described as a disease. It is a medical condition. The term is short for
acquired immune deficiency syndrome
.

aiguillette.
Ornamental braid worn on the shoulder of a uniform.

Airbus Industrie.
European aircraft manufacturer, now called
Airbus SAS;
it is a subsidiary of EADS NV.

Air France–KLM.
Franco-Dutch airline formed from merger of two national carriers in 2004.

Air Line Pilots Association.
Group that looks after the interests of American commercial pilots.

AirTran Airways.

Aix-en-Provence,
France. Note hyphens.

Aix-la-Chapelle.
(Hyphens.) French name for Aachen, Germany.

Aix-les-Bains,
France. Note hyphens.

Ajaccio.
Capital of Corsica and birthplace of Napoleon.

AK
is the postal abbreviation of Alaska.

AL
is the postal abbreviation of Alabama.

Ala.
is the traditional abbreviation of Alabama.

à la.
The adjectival forms of proper nouns in French do not take capital letters after
à la
:
à la française, à la russe, à la lyonnaise.

alabaster.

Aladdin.

Alamein, El/Al.
Egyptian village that gave its name to two battles of World War II.

Alamogordo,
New Mexico, site of first atomic bomb explosion.

À la recherche du temps perdu.
Novel by Marcel Proust, published in English as
Remembrance of Things Past
.

“Alas! poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio”
is the correct version of the quotation from
Hamlet
.

Alaska Airlines.
Not
Alaskan
.

Albigenses, Albigensians.
Religious sect during eleventh to thirteenth centuries, also known as Cathars.

Albright, Madeleine.
(1937–) Czech-born American diplomat and academic.

albumen, albumin.
Albumen
is the white of an egg;
albumin
is a protein within the albumen.

Albuquerque,
New Mexico.

Alcaeus.
(c. 600
BC
) Greek poet.

Alcatraz.
Island and former prison in San Francisco Bay.

Alcibiades.
(c. 450–404
BC
) Athenian statesman and general.

Alcott, Louisa May.
(1833-1888) American writer, daughter of
Amos Bronson Alcott
(1799-1888), author and philosopher.

Aleixandre, Vicente.
(1898-1984) Spanish poet, awarded Nobel Prize for Literature 1977. Pronounced
ah-lay-hahn
'
-
dray
.

Aleutian Islands,
Alaska.

alfalfa.

Alfa-Romeo
for the Italian make of automobile. Not
Alpha
-.

Al-Fatah.
Palestinian political organization. Drop
Al
when it is preceded by an article (“a Fatah spokesman,” “the Fatah organization”).

Alfredsson, Daniel.
(1972–) Swedish ice hockey player.

Alfredsson, Helen.
(1965–) Swedish professional golfer.

alfresco.
(One word.)

algae
is plural; a single organism is an
alga.

Algonquin Hotel,
New York City.

Algonquin Indians.

algorithm.

Ali, Muhammad.
(1942–) American heavyweight boxer, three-time world champion; born Cassius Marcellus Clay.

à l'italienne.
(Fr., no cap.) In the Italian style.

alkali,
pl.
alkalis, alkalies.

al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa.
(c. 780–
C
. 850) Arab mathematician, often called the father of algebra.

Allahabad.
City in Uttar Pradesh, India.

allege, allegedly, allegation.

Allegheny Mountains
and
Allegheny River,
but
Alleghany Corporation
and
Allegany
for the town, county, Indian reservation, and state park in New York. The plural of the mountains is
Alleghenies.
In short, there is huge variation in the spelling from place to place, so double-check.

Allen, William Hervey.
(1889-1949) Not
Harvey
; American novelist.

Allende, Salvador.
(1908-1973) President of Chile (1970-73).

All God's Chillun Got Wings.
Play by Eugene O'Neill (1924).

Allhallowmass.
(One word.) Alternative name for All Saints' Day.

all intents and purposes
is a tautology; use just “to all intents.”

All Nippon Airways.
Not
-lines.

allophone.
In Canadian usage, someone who does not speak French.

allot, allotted, allotting, allottable.

all right.
Not
alright.

All Saints' Day.
November 1.

All Souls College,
Oxford University. Not
Souls
', etc.

all time.
Many authorities object to this expression in constructions such as “She was almost certainly the greatest female sailor of all time” (
Daily Telegraph
) on the grounds that
all time
extends to the future as well as the past and we cannot possibly know what lies ahead. A no less pertinent consideration is that such assessments, as in the example just cited, are bound to be hopelessly subjective and therefore have no place in any measured argument.

allusion.
“When the speaker happened to name Mr. Gladstone, the allusion was received with loud cheers” (cited by Fowler). The word is not, as many suppose, a more impressive synonym for
reference
. When you allude to something, you do not specifically mention it but leave it to the reader to deduce the subject. Thus it would be correct to write, “In an allusion to the president, he said: ‘Some people make better oil men than politicians.'” The word is closer in meaning to
implication
or
suggestion
.

Allyson, June.
(1917-2006) American film actress; real name Ella Geisman.

Al Manamah/Al Manama.
Capital of Bahrain.

Almaty.
Largest city in Kazakhstan. The capital is Astana.

Almodóvar, Pedro.
(1949–) Spanish filmmaker.

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
Department of France.

Al Qaeda
(from the Arabic
al-qa'ida
) is the most common spelling in American English for the terrorist group, but there are many variants, including commonly
Al Qaida, al-Qaeda,
and
al-Qaida.

Al Qahirah/El Qahira.
Arabic name for Cairo.

alright
is never correct; make it
all right.

ALS.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a muscle-wasting disease. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, after the baseball player who suffered from it.

altar, alter.
The first is a table used in worship; the second means to change.

altercation
means a heated exchange of words. If blows are traded or shoving is involved, it is not properly an altercation.

Althing.
Parliament of Iceland.

altocumulus, altostratus
(each one word) for types of cloud.

alumnae, alumni.
Alumni
is the masculine plural for a collection of college graduates. In the context of an all-female institution, the correct word is
alumnae
. The singular forms are
alumna
(feminine) and
alumnus
(masculine).

alyssum.
Border plant.

Alzheimer's disease,
but in formal medical contexts the non-possessive form
Alzheimer disease
is increasingly used instead.

a.m./AM.
Ante meridiem
(Lat.) Before midday.

Amalienborg Palace.
Residence of Danish royal family in Copenhagen.

amanuensis.
One who takes dictation; pl.
amanuenses.

amaretto.
Liqueur; pl.
amarettos.

Amarillo,
Texas.

amaryllis.

ambergris.
Substance used in the manufacture of perfumes.

ambidextrous.
Not
-erous.

ambience.

ambiguous, equivocal.
Both mean vague and open to more than one interpretation. But whereas an
ambiguous
statement may be vague by accident or by intent, an
equivocal
one is calculatedly unclear.

Amenhotep.
Name of four kings in the eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt.

America's Cup.
Yacht races.

americium.
(Not cap.) Chemical element.

AmeriCorps.
Voluntary service organization.

AmerisourceBergen.
(One word.) Pharmaceutical supply company.

Améthyste, Côte d',
France.

Amharic.
Semitic language; official tongue of Ethiopia.

amicus curiae.
(Lat.) “Friend of the court.” Pl.
amici curiae.

amid, among.
Among
applies to things that can be separated and counted,
amid
to things that cannot. Rescuers might search among survivors, but amid wreckage.

amniocentesis.
The withdrawing of amniotic fluid from a pregnant woman's uterus.

à moitié.
(Fr.) In part, halfway.

amok
is generally the preferred spelling, but
amuck
is an accepted alternative.

among, between.
A few authorities insist that
among
applies to more than two things and
between
to only two. But by this logic you would have to say that St. Louis is among California, New York, and Michigan, not between them. Insofar as the two words can be distinguished,
among
should be applied to collective arrangements (trade talks among the members of the European Community) and
between
to reciprocal arrangements (a treaty between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada).

amoral, immoral.
Amoral
describes matters in which questions of morality do not arise or are disregarded;
immoral
applies to things that are evil.

amour-propre.
(Fr.) Self-respect.

Ampère, André Marie.
(1775-1836) French physicist. The unit of electricity named after him is
ampere
(no cap., no accent).

amphetamine.

amphibian, amphibious.

Amphitryon.
In Greek mythology, a Mycenaen king whose wife, Alcmene, gave birth to Hercules after Zeus tricked her into sleeping with him.

ampoule/ampule/ampul.
All three spellings are accepted, but
ampoule
is generally preferred.