Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (4 page)

Archimedes.
(c. 287–212
BC
) Greek mathematician and engineer.

archipelago,
pl.
archipelagos.

Arctic Circle, Arctic Ocean,
but
arctic fox.

Ardennes.
Wooded plateau region in southern Belgium, northeastern France, and Luxembourg.

Arezzo,
Italy.

arguable.

Århus.
Danish for Aarhus; city in Denmark.

Aristides.
(c. 530–c. 468
BC
) Athenian statesman.

Aristophanes.
(c. 448–c. 380
BC
) Greek dramatist.

armadillo,
pl.
armadillos.

Armageddon.

armament.

armature.

aroma
applies only to agreeable smells; there is no such thing as a bad aroma.

Aroostook River,
Maine and New Brunswick.

Arran, Isle of,
Scotland. See also
ARAN ISLAND
.

arrière-pensée.
(Fr.) Ulterior motive, mental reservation.

arrivederci.
(It.) Goodbye.

arriviste.
Disagreeably ambitious person.

Arrol-Johnston.
British automobile of early 1900s.

arrondissement.
Principal division of French departments and some larger cities.

Arrows of the Chace,
not
Chase
, by John Ruskin.

Artemis.
Greek goddess of the moon, associated with hunting. The Roman equivalent is Diana.

arteriosclerosis.

Arthur Andersen.
Not
-son.
Accountancy firm.

Arthur, Chester Alan.
(1829-1886) U.S. president (1881-1885).

artichoke.

artifact, artefact.
The first spelling is generally preferred, but either is correct.

Aruba.
Caribbean island, a self-governing dependency of the Netherlands; capital Oranjestad.

Asahi Shimbun.
Japanese newspaper.

as…as.
“A government study concludes that for trips of 500 miles or less…automotive travel is as fast or faster than air travel, door to door” (George Will, syndicated columnist). The problem here is what is termed an incomplete alternative comparison. If we remove the “or faster than” phrase from the sentence, the problem becomes immediately evident: “A government study concludes that for trips of 500 miles or less…automotive travel is as fast than air travel, door to door.” The writer has left the “as fast” phrase uncompleted. The sentence should say “as fast as or faster than air travel.”

ascendancy, ascendant.

Asch, Sholem.
(1880-1957) Polish-born American novelist.

ASCII.
Short for American Standard Code for Information Interchange; computer terminology.

Asclepius.
Use
Aesculapius.

ASEAN.
Association of South East Asian Nations, formed 1967; members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar/Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

aseptic.

as far as
is commonly misused, as here: “As far as next season, it is too early to make forecasts” (
Baltimore Sun
). The error here has been exercising authorities since at least Fowler's heyday and shows no sign of abating, either as a problem or as something that exercises authorities. The trouble is that “as far as” serves as a conjunction and as such requires a following verb. The solution is either to remove the conjunction (“As for next season, it is too early to make forecasts”) or to supply the needed verb (“As far as next season goes, it is too early to make forecasts”).

Ashbery, John.
(1927–) American poet and critic.

Asheville,
North Carolina.

Ashgabat.
Capital of Turkmenistan; also sometimes spelled
Ashkhabad.

Ashkenazi.
An East or Central European Jew; pl.
Ashkenazim.

Ashkenazy, Vladimir.
(1937–) Russian-born Icelandic pianist and conductor.

Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford, England.

Ashuapmuchuan River,
Quebec, Canada.

Asimov, Isaac.
(1920-1992) American biochemist and prolific science-fiction writer.

asinine.

Asmara.
Capital of Eritrea; formerly Asmera.

asparagus.

Assad, Bashar.
(1965–) President of Syria (2000–); succeeded his father,
Hafez Assad
(1928-2000).

assagai/assegai.
Either spelling is correct for the African spear.

assailant.

assassin.

Assateague Island,
Maryland and Virginia.

assault, battery.
They are not the same in law.
Assault
is a threat of violence;
battery
is actual violence.

assessor.

asseverate.
To declare.

assiduous, acidulous.
Assiduous
means diligent;
acidulous
means tart or acidic.

Assiniboine River,
Manitoba, Canada.

Assisi.
Town in Umbria, Italy, birthplace of St. Francis.

assonance.
Words that rhyme in consonants but not vowels (e.g.,
cat
and
kit
) or in vowels but not consonants (e.g.,
bun
and
sponge
).

assuage, assuaging.

assume, presume.
The two words are often so close in meaning as to be indistinguishable, but in some contexts they do allow a fine distinction to be made.
Assume
, in the sense of “to suppose,” normally means to put forth a realistic hypothesis, something that can be taken as probable (“I assume we will arrive by midnight”).
Presume
has more of an air of sticking one's neck out, of making an assertion that may be arguable or wrong (“I presume we have met before?”). But in most instances the two words can be used interchangeably.

as to whether.
Whether
alone is sufficient.

AstraZeneca.
Pharmaceuticals company.

AstroTurf
(one word) is a trademark.

Asunción.
Capital of Paraguay.

asymmetry, asymmetric, asymmetrical.

Atatürk, Mustapha Kemal.
(1881-1938) Turkish leader and president (1923-1938).

Atchafalaya.
Louisiana river and bay.

Athena.
Greek goddess of wisdom.

Athenaeum.
London club and other British contexts, but
Atheneum
for the U.S. publisher.

Athinai.
Greek spelling of Athens.

ATM.
Automated teller machine.

à tout prix.
(Fr.) At any price.

attaché.

Attawapiskat.
Canadian river.

Attlee, Clement (Richard).
(1883-1967) British prime minister (1945-1951). Later made Earl Attlee.

attorney general,
pl.
attorneys general.

attributable.

Attucks, Crispus.
(c. 1723-1770) Black American killed in the Boston Massacre.

Atwater, (Harvey) Lee.
(1951-1991) American political figure.

Atwood, Margaret.
(1939–) Canadian novelist.

Au,
gold, is the abbreviation of
aurum
(Lat.).

aubergine.
British name for eggplant.

au besoin.
(Fr.) “If need be.”

aubrietia.
Flowering plant named after
Claude Aubriet
(1655–1742), French painter.

Auchincloss, Louis (Stanton).
(1917–) American novelist.

Auchinleck.
Family name of James Boswell; pronounced
aff-leck.

Auden, W. H.
(for Wystan Hugh). (1907-1973) English-born American poet.

audible.

Audubon, John James.
(1785-1851) American artist and naturalist.

au fait.
(Fr.) To be in the know.

au fond.
(Fr.) Basically, at the bottom.

auf Wiedersehen.
(Ger.) Goodbye, until we meet again.

auger, augur.
An
auger
is a tool for boring holes in wood or soil; an
augur
is a prophet or soothsayer. The two words are not related.

“Auld Lang Syne.”
(Scot.) Literally “old long since” traditional end-of-year song with words by Robert Burns.

Auld Reekie.
(Scot.) Old Smoky; nickname for Edinburgh.

Aumann, Robert J.
(1930–) Israeli-American academic; awarded Nobel Prize for Economics (2005).

au mieux.
(Fr.) For the best, at best.

au naturel.
(Fr.) In the natural state.

Ausable River, Ausable Chasm,
New York State.

Au Sable River, Au Sable Point,
Michigan.

Auschwitz.
German concentration camp in Poland during World War II. In Polish, Oswiecim.

Au secours!
(Fr.) A cry for help.

Ausländer.
(Ger.) Foreigner.

auspicious
does not mean simply special or memorable. It means propitious, promising, of good omen.

Austen, Jane.
(1775-1817) English novelist.

Australia, Commonwealth of,
is divided into six states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia) and two territories (Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory). The latter two should not be referred to as states.

autarchy, autarky.
The first means absolute power, an autocracy; the second denotes self-sufficiency. However, neither word is well known, and in almost every instance an English synonym would bring an improvement in comprehension, if not in elegance.

Auteuil, Daniel.
(1950–) Prolific French actor.

autobahn.
(Ger.) Express motorway. The English plural is
autobahns
; the German is
Autobahnen
.

auto-da-fé.
Execution of heretics during the Inquisition; pl.
autos-da-fé.

autostrada.
(It.) Express motorway; pl.
autostrade.

Auvergne.
Region of France.

auxiliary.
Not
-ll-.

avant-garde.

avenge, revenge.
Generally,
avenge
indicates the settling of a score or the redressing of an injustice. It is more dispassionate than
revenge,
which indicates retaliation taken largely for the sake of personal satisfaction.

Avenue of the Americas,
New York City. Often still referred to as Sixth Avenue, its former name.

avocado,
pl.
avocados.

avocation.
Work done for personal satisfaction rather than need, usually in addition to a normal job.

avoirdupois weights.
The system of weights traditionally used throughout the English-speaking world, based on one pound equaling sixteen ounces.

Avon.
Former county of England, abolished 1996; also the name of several rivers in England and the title of the former prime minister Anthony Eden (Earl of Avon).

à votre santé.
(Fr.) “To your health.”

a while, awhile.
To write “for awhile” is wrong because the idea of
for
is implicit in
awhile.
Write either “I will stay here for a while” (two words) or “I will stay here awhile” (one word).

awoke, awaked, awakened.
Two common problems are worth noting:

1.
Awoken
, though much used, is generally considered not standard. Thus this sentence from an Agatha Christie novel (cited by Partridge) is wrong: “I was awoken by that rather flashy young woman.” Make it
awakened
.

2. As a past participle,
awaked
is preferable to
awoke
. Thus, “He had awaked at midnight” and not “He had awoke at midnight.” But if ever in doubt about the past tense, you will never be wrong if you use
awakened
.

axel, axle.
An
axel
is a jump in ice skating; an
axle
is a rod connecting two wheels.

Axelrod, George.
(1922-2003) American screenwriter and film director.

ayatollah.
Shiite Muslim religious leader.