Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (19 page)

fresh.
Usually the word serves as an unobjectionable synonym for
new
, but it has additional connotations that make it inappropriate in some contexts, as the following vividly demonstrates: “Three weeks after the earthquake, fresh bodies have been found in the wreckage” (cited by Spiegl in
The Joy of Words
).

fricassee,
pl.
fricassees.

fricative.
A type of consonant.

Friedan, Betty.
(1921–2006) American feminist; born Elizabeth Naomi Goldstein.

Friedman, Milton.
(1912–2006) American economist, awarded Nobel Prize for Economics (1976).

Friedrichshafen,
Germany.

Friesian/Frisian.
Friesian
is a breed of cattle;
Frisian
is the name of a north Germanic language and of a chain of islands lying off, and politically divided between, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. Friesian cattle in the United States are normally called Holsteins.
Frisian
is also sometimes applied to people from Friesland, the Dutch province that partly encompasses the Frisian islands.

frieze.

Friml, Rudolf.
(1879–1972) Czech-born American pianist and composer of light operas.

Frisbee.
(Cap.)

frisson.
“A slight frisson went through the nation yesterday” (
London Times
). There is no other kind of frisson than a slight one. The word means shiver or shudder.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Region of Italy.

frontispiece.
Illustration facing the title page of a book.

frowsty, frowzy.
The first means musty or stale; the second, untidy or dingy.

Frühstück.
(Ger.) Breakfast.

FTC.
Federal Trade Commission.

Führer
(pref.)/
Fuehrer
(alt.). German leader, particularly Adolf Hitler.

Fujiyama
means Mount Fuji, so “Mount Fujiyama” is redundant. Make it either Fujiyama or Mount Fuji. The Japanese also call it Fujisan and Fuki-no-Yama.

fulfill, fulfillment, fulfilled, fulfilling.

fulsome
means odiously insincere. “Fulsome praise,” properly used, isn't a lavish tribute; it is unctuous and insincere toadying.

furor.

further, farther.
Insofar as the two are distinguished,
farther
usually appears in contexts involving literal distance (“New York is farther from Sydney than from London”) and
further
in contexts involving figurative distance (“I can take this plan no further”).

Fusaichi Pegasus.
Racehorse, winner of 2000 Kentucky Derby.

fusion, fission.
Both describe ways of producing nuclear energy:
fusion
by fusing two light nuclei into a single, heavier nucleus;
fission
by splitting the nucleus of an atom.

future plans
and similar locutions are nearly always redundant. If a person makes plans, it would follow that they are for the future.

Fuzhou.
Formerly often written Foochow or Fouchou, capital of Fujian Province, China; pronounced
foo-jo'.

Gg

gabardine, gaberdine.
The first is a type of worsted cloth, the second a long cloak.

Gaborone.
Capital of Botswana.

Gaddafi/Qaddafi, Muammar al-.
(1942–) Libyan head of state (1969–). He has no official title or position.

Gadsden Purchase.
Large purchase of territory by the United States from Mexico in 1853.

Gaeltacht.
Any region of Ireland where Gaelic is the vernacular.

Gagarin, Yuri.
(1934–1968) Soviet cosmonaut, first man in space (1961).

gage, gauge.
The first is a pledge or a type of plum (as in
greengage
); the second is to do with scales and measurements.

Gaia
(also, but rarely,
Gaea
or
Ge
). In early Greek mythology, the earth personified; later, goddess of the earth.

gaiety.

gaijin.
(Jap.) “Outsider” used of foreigners.

gaillardia.
(Lowercase.) Type of flower of the genus
Gaillardia
(cap.).

Gainsborough, Thomas.
(1727–1788) English painter.

Galahad, Sir.
The purest and noblest knight in the Arthurian legend.

Galápagos Islands.
Pacific islands belonging to Ecuador; their Spanish name is Archipiélago de Colón.

Galeries Lafayette.
Paris department store.

Galileo.
(1564–1642) Italian astronomer and mathematician; full name
Galileo Galilei.

Gallaudet College,
Washington, D.C.

gallimaufry.
A jumble; pl.
gallimaufries.

Gallipoli.
Turkish peninsula and site of World War I campaign; in Turkish, Gelibolu.

gallivant.
To wander.

Galsworthy, John.
(1867–1933) English novelist, awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

Gama, Vasco da.
(Not
de
.) (c. 1469–1524) Portuguese explorer.

Gambia.
(Not
the
.) African country, capital Banjul.

gambit.
Properly, a gambit is an opening move that involves some strategic sacrifice or concession. All gambits are opening moves, but not all opening moves are gambits.

gamy.
Not
-ey.

Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand.
(1869–1948) Indian leader; called Mahatma, “great soul.”

ganef/gonof.
(Yid.) A thief or disreputable person.

gangrene.
Not
-green.

Gannett Company.
Newspaper group.

Gannett Peak,
Wyoming.

gantlet, gauntlet.
For the sense of running between two lines of aggressors (whether literally or metaphorically) the normal spelling is
gantlet,
though
gauntlet
is usually also accepted. For the idea of a glove thrown down in challenge, the invariable spelling is
gauntlet.

Ganymede.
Fourth moon of Jupiter; in Greek mythology, the young Trojan who was made cupbearer to the gods.

García Lorca, Federico.
(1899–1936) Spanish poet and playwright.

García Márquez, Gabriel.
(1928–) Colombian novelist; awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.

Garda Siochána.
Formal name of the police force in the Republic of Ireland, usually shortened to Garda; a member of the force is called a
garda
(not cap.), pl.
gardai.

Gardner, Erle Stanley.
(1889–1970) American writer of crime and courtroom fiction. Note unusual spelling of first name.

Garibaldi, Giuseppe.
(1807–1882) Italian leader; played a central role in national unification.

garish.
Gaudy.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
German skiing resort.

Garonne.
French river.

garote
(or
garrote
). To strangle with an object.

gas, gases, gaseous, gasify, gasification,
but
gassed
and
gassing.

gasoline.

Gasthaus, Gasthof.
The first is German for an inn or guesthouse; the second is German for a hotel. The plurals are
Gasthäuser
and
Gasthöfe
.

gastronome.
A connoisseur of food.

GATT.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; UN agency that attempts to regulate world trade.

Gaudier-Brzeska, Henri.
(1891–1915) French sculptor.

gauge, gage.
The first is to do with scales and measurements; the second is a pledge or a type of plum (as in
greengage
).

Gaugin, (Eugène Henri) Paul.
(1848–1903) French painter.

Gauloise.
Brand of French cigarettes.

gauntlet.
A form of punishment or severe criticism, as in “run the gauntlet” to challenge, as in “throw down the gauntlet.” See also
GANTLET
.

Gauthier-Villars.
French publisher.

gauzy.

Gawain, Sir.
One of the knights of Arthurian legend.

Gay-Lussac, Joseph Louis.
(1778–1850) French chemist and physicist.

gazetteer.

gazpacho.
Cold Spanish soup.

Gdánsk,
Poland; formerly Danzig.

GDP, GNP.
GNP,
gross national product, is the total worth of everything produced by a nation during a given period, including earnings from abroad.
GDP,
gross domestic product, is everything produced by a nation during a given period, except earnings from abroad.

GDR.
German Democratic Republic; the former East Germany.

geezer.
An old man.

Geffrye Museum,
London.

gefilte fish.
(Yid.) Chopped-fish dish.

Gehrig, Lou.
(1903–1941) Baseball player, full name Henry Louis Gehrig.

Gehry, Frank.
(1929–) Canadian-American architect; born Ephraim Owen Goldberg.

Geiger counter.
(Cap.) Measures radioactivity; devised by the German physicist Hans Geiger (1882–1945).

Geisenheimer wine.

gelatin
is the usual spelling, but
gelatine
is also accepted.

Gell-Mann, Murray.
(1929–) American physicist, awarded Nobel Prize for Physics in 1969.

gemütlich.
(Ger.) Agreeable, comfortable, good-natured.

Gemütlichkeit.
(Ger.) Congeniality, friendliness.

gendarmes
are not policemen; they are soldiers employed in police duties, principally in the countryside. Police officers in French cities and towns are just that—police officers.

genealogy.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
(Abbr. GATT.) UN body set up to promote world trade.

generalissimo,
pl.
generalissimos.
But note in Spanish it is
generalisimo
(one
s
).

Geneva,
Switzerland; it is Genève in French, Genf in German, and Ginevra in Italian; Lake Geneva is Lac Léman in French and Genfersee in German.

Geneva Convention.
(1864; rev. 1950, 1978) International agreement on the conduct of war and treatment of wounded and captured soldiers.

Geneviève, Sainte.
(c. 422–c. 512) Patron saint of Paris.

Genghis Khan.
(1162–1227) Mongol conqueror.

genie,
pl.
genies
or
genii.

Genova.
Italian for Genoa.

gentilhomme.
(Fr.) Gentleman or nobleman; pl.
gentilshommes.

Gentlemen's Quarterly.
Not
-man's
. U.S. magazine, now called
GQ
.

gentoo.
Breed of penguin.

genus, species.
The second is a subgroup of the first. The convention is to capitalize the genus but not the species, as in
Homo sapiens
. The plurals are
genera
and
species
. The traditional order of divisions in taxonomy is phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.

Geographic Names, U.S. Board on.
Not
Geographical
, not
of
.

George Town, Georgetown.
George Town
is the spelling for the capital of the Cayman Islands and the principal city of the island and state of Penang in Malaysia. Almost all others, including the capital of the South American country Guyana and the district and university in Washington, D.C., use the spelling
Georgetown
.

Gephardt, Richard Andrew “Dick.”
(1941–) Democratic politician, U.S. representative from Missouri (1977–2005).

gerbil.
Not
jer-.

Géricault, Jean Louis André Théodore.
(1791–1824) French painter.

germane, relevant, material.
Germane
and
relevant
are synonymous. Both indicate a pertinence to the matter under discussion.
Material
has the additional connotation of being necessary. A material point is one without which an argument would be incomplete. A germane or relevant point will be worth noting but may not be essential to the argument.

Germany
was partitioned into East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik), with its capital in East Berlin, and West Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland), with its capital at Bonn, in 1949. The two Germanys (not
-ies
) were reunited on October 3, 1990. The sixteen states, or Länder, are Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg–West Pomerania, North Rhine–Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia.

gerrymander
means to distort or redraw to one's advantage, especially a political boundary. Not to be confused with
JERRY-BUILT.

gerunds
are verbs made to function as nouns, as with the italicized words in “I don't like
dancing
” and “
Cooking
is an art.” Two problems commonly arise with gerunds:

1. Sometimes the gerund is unnecessarily set off by an article and preposition, as here: “They said that
the
valuing
of
the paintings could take several weeks.” Deleting the italicized words would make the sentence shorter and more forceful.

2. Problems also occur when a possessive noun or pronoun (called a
genitive
) qualifies a gerund. A common type of construction is seen here: “They objected to him coming.” Properly it should be: “They objected to his coming.” Similarly, “There is little hope of Smith gaining admittance to the club” should be “There is little hope of Smith's gaining admittance…”

Gestapo.
Short for
Geheime Staatspolizei,
German secret police during the Third Reich.

Gesundheit!
Interjection made in response to a sneeze.

Gethsemane.
Olive grove at Jerusalem where Jesus was betrayed.

gettable.

Getty, J(ean) Paul.
(1892–1976) Not
John
. U.S. oil man and benefactor; his son
Jean Paul Getty II
(1932–) is also often given wrongly as John.

Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, is the site of a decisive (but not the final) battle of the Civil War (July 1863); locally pronounced
gettiz-burg
.

gewgaw.
Worthless bauble.

Ghanaian
for a person or thing from Ghana.

ghettos.
Not
-oes.

ghillie (or gillie).
Scottish hunting or fishing assistant; also a type of shoe.

Ghirardelli Square,
San Francisco.

ghiribizzoso.
Musical term for whimsical playing.

Ghirlandaio, Il.
(1449–1494) Florentine painter; real name Domenico di Tommaso Bigordi.

Giacometti, Alberto.
(1901–1966) Swiss sculptor and painter.

Giannini, A. P.
(1870–1949) American banker, founded Bank of America; full name Amadeo Peter Giannini.

Giant's Causeway,
Northern Ireland. Not
Giants'
.

Gibbon, Edward.
(1737–1794) Not
Gibbons
. English historian.

Gibbons, Grinling.
(1648–1721) Dutch-born English sculptor and woodcarver.

gibe, jibe.
The first means to taunt or ridicule; the second means to agree or be in accord.
Jibe
is also a nautical term.