Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (18 page)

fjord, fiord.
Either is correct.

fl.
Floruit
(Lat.), meaning “flourished” used to indicate the productive period of a person (“fl. second century
BC
”) for whom more specific dates are lacking.

flack, flak.
The first is a slightly pejorative term for a publicist. The second, a contraction of the German
Fliegerabwehrkanonen
, is antiaircraft fire and by extension criticism or abuse.

flagon.
A drinking vessel.

flair, flare.
Flair
is a knack for doing something well;
flare
describes a burst of flame or other phenomenon involving light.

flak.
See
FLACK, FLAK
.

flaky.

flamingoes.

flammable, inflammable.
Inflammable
means capable of burning but has so often been taken to mean the opposite that most authorities now suggest it be avoided. It is generally better to use
flammable
for materials that will burn and
nonflammable
for those that will not.

flaunt, flout.
To
flaunt
means to display ostentatiously, to show off. To
flout
means to treat with contempt, to disregard in a smug manner.

flautist.
Person who plays a flute.

Fledermaus, Die.
Operetta by Johann Strauss the Younger (1874).

Fleming.
A native of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium; the adjective is
Flemish.

Fleming, Sir Alexander.
(1881–1955) British bacteriologist, discoverer of penicillin; shared Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945.

fleugelhorn
(or
flügelhorn
). Brass musical instrument.

fleur-de-lis,
pl.
fleurs-de-lis.

flexible.

flibbertigibbet.
A scatterbrain.

floccinaucinihilipilification.
The act of estimating as worthless; sometimes cited as the longest word in English.

flora, fauna.
The first means plants, the second animals.

florescent, fluorescent.
The first means in flower, the second radiating light.

floruit.
(Lat.) Abbr.
fl.;
“flourished” used when the exact dates lived are not known. E.g., “Caedmon (fl. seventh c.).”

flotsam and jetsam.
Jetsam
is that part of a shipwreck that has been thrown overboard (think of
jettison
) and
flotsam
that which has floated off of its own accord. (A third type, wreckage found on the sea floor, is called
lagan
.) There was a time when the distinction was important: flotsam went to the crown and jetsam to the lord of the manor on whose land it washed up.

flounder, founder.
Founder
means to sink, either literally (as with a ship) or figuratively (as with a project).
Flounder
means to flail helplessly. It too can be used literally (as with someone struggling in deep water) or figuratively (as with a nervous person making an extemporaneous speech).

flourish.

flout, flaunt.
The first means to disregard; the second to show off.

flügelhorn.
Alt. spelling of
fleugelhorn.

flummox.

flunky, flunkies.

fluorescent light.

fluoridate, fluoridation.

fluoroscope.

focaccia.
An Italian bread.

fo'c'sle.
Forecastle.

foehn.
Type of warm mountain wind.

Fogg, Phileas.
Not
Phogg
, not
Phineas
, for the character in Jules Verne's
Around the World in Eighty Days.

Fogg Art Museum,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.

fogy
(or
fogey
). An old-fashioned person; pl.
fogies
(or
fogeys
).

föhn.
See
FOEHN
.

foie gras.
Fattened goose liver.

foley artist.
(Not cap.) A specialist in dubbing sounds on film; named for
Jack Foley
(1891–1967), Hollywood sound effects editor.

Folger Shakespeare Library,
Washington, D.C.

folie à deux.
(Fr.) A delusion shared by two people.

Folies-Bergère.
Parisian music hall.

Folketing.
Danish parliament.

Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin.

Fontainebleau.
Château, town, and forest on the Seine near Paris; also a hotel in Miami, Florida.

Foochow.
Use
Fuzhou
for the capital of Fujian Province, China. (It is pronounced
foo-jo'.
)

foot-and-mouth disease.
(Hyphens.) Not
hoof-and-mouth
.

forbear, forebear.
The first is a verb meaning to avoid or refrain from. The second is a noun and means ancestor.

forbid, prohibit.
The words have the same meaning, but the construction of sentences often dictates which should be used.
Forbid
may be followed only by
to
(“I forbid you to go”).
Prohibit
may not be followed by
to
, but only by
from
(“He was prohibited from going”) or by an object noun (“The law prohibits the construction of houses without planning consent”). Thus the following is wrong: “They are forbidden from uttering any public comments.” Make it either “They are prohibited from uttering…” or “They are forbidden to utter…” A small additional point is that
forbid
's past tense form,
forbade
, has the preferred pronunciation
for-bad,
not
for-bade.

forceful, forcible, forced.
Forcible
indicates the use of brute force (“forcible entry”).
Forceful
suggests a potential for force (“forceful argument,” “forceful personality”).
Forced
can be used for
forcible
(as in “forced entry”), but more often is reserved for actions that are involuntary (“forced march”) or occurring under strain (“forced laughter,” “forced landing”).

force majeur.
(Fr.) An uncontrollable event.

forcible.

forego, forgo.
The first means to precede; the second means to do without. One of the most common spelling errors in English is to write
forego
when
forgo
is intended.

Forester, C. S.
(for Cecil Scott) (1899–1966) English writer, chiefly remembered for naval adventures involving Horatio Hornblower; not to be confused with E. M. Forster.

foreword.
An introduction to a book written by someone other than the book's author.

forgather.
Not
fore-.
The need for the word is doubtful since
gather
says as much and says it more quickly.

formaldehyde.
(Not cap.)

former, latter.
Former
, properly used, should refer only to the first of two things and
latter
to the second of two things. Both words, since they require the reader to hark back to an earlier reference, should be used sparingly and only when what they refer to is immediately evident. Few editing shortcomings are more annoying and less excusable than requiring a reader to re-cover old ground.

Formica
is a trademark.

Formosa.
Former name of Taiwan.

Fornebu Airport,
Oslo, Norway.

Forster, E. M.
(for Edward Morgan) (1879–1970) English novelist.

forswear.

forsythia.

forte.
(Abbr.
f.
) In music, loud; also, a person's strong point.

fortissimo, fortississimo.
The first (abbr.
ff
.) means very loud; the second (abbr.
fff
.) means as loud as possible.

Fort-Lamy.
Former name of N'djamena, capital of Chad.

Fort Sumter,
Charleston, South Carolina, site of first action in the Civil War.

fortuitous
means by chance; it is not a synonym for
fortunate
. A fortuitous event may be fortunate, but equally it may not.

forty-niner.
(No cap.) Participant in the 1849 California gold rush. The San Francisco football team is the
49ers
(no apos.).

For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Not
Bells Toll.
Novel by Ernest Hemingway (1940).

Foucault pendulum.
For the device (pronounced
foo-ko
), but
Foucault's Pendulum
(1988) for the novel by Umberto Eco.

founder, flounder.
Founder
means to sink, break down, or fail;
flounder
means only to struggle. A drowning person flounders; ships founder.

foundry.
Not
-ery.

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
represent Conquest, Slaughter, Famine, and Death.

fourth estate.
In Britain, the press. The other three estates are the Lords, the Commons, and the Church of England.

Fowler's.
Common name for
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
by
H. W. Fowler.

Foxe, John.
(1516–1587) English clergyman, most remembered for the book commonly known as
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
; not to be confused with
George Fox
(1624–1691), founder of the Society of Friends, or Quakers.

fraction.
A few authorities continue to maintain that
fraction
in the sense of a small part is ambiguous: 99/100 is also a fraction but hardly a negligible part. The looser usage, however, has been around for at least three hundred years. Even so, it would be more precise to say “a small part” or “a tiny part.” (See also
PERCENT, PERCENTAGE POINT
.)

fractious.
Disorderly.

France
is divided into the following twenty-two regions (English version in parentheses where appropriate): Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bretagne (Brittany), Bourgogne (Burgundy), Centre, Champagne-Ardennes, Corse (Corsica), Franche-Comté, Haute-Normandie, Île-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrénées, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays-de-la-Loire, Picardie (Picardy), Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes.

Franche-Comté.
Region of France.

Francis of Assisi, St.
(1182–1226) Born Giovanni Francesco Bernardone; founder of Franciscan order of monks.

Frankenstein.
The full title of the novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) is
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
(1818). Frankenstein is the scientist, not the monster.

Frankfurt am Main,
western Germany, is not to be confused with
Frankfurt an der Oder,
eastern Germany, on the border with Poland. The towns in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and several other U.S. states are all
Frankfort.

Frankfurter, Felix.
(1882–1965) American jurist.

Franz Josef Land.
Archipelago in the Barents Sea.

frappé.
(Fr.) Iced, artificially chilled.

Frau.
(Ger.) Married woman, pl.
Frauen.

Fräulein.
(Ger.) Sing. and pl., unmarried woman/women.

Frayn, Michael.
(1933–) English writer.

Frazer-Nash.
Not
Fraser-.
British sports car.

Freddie Mac.
Nickname of U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. See also
FANNIE MAE/FANNIE MAY
.

Fredericksburg,
Virginia; site of battle in Civil War.

Fredericton.
Capital of New Brunswick, Canada.

Frederiksberg.
Suburb of Copenhagen.

freesia.
Flowering plant.

Freiburg (im Breisgau)
for the ancient university town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, but
Freiberg
for its near namesake in Saxony.

Frelinghuysen, Rodney.
(1946–) U.S. representative from New Jersey, one in a long line of politicians of that name in New Jersey.

Fremantle,
Western Australia.

French Guiana.
An overseas region of France on the South American mainland; capital Cayenne.

Frenchman Flat,
Nevada; site of atomic bomb tests in 1950s.

French Somaliland.
Former name of Djibouti.