Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (22 page)

Helsingør.
Danish name for the Danish port known in English as Elsinore; setting of Shakespeare's
Hamlet
.

hematology, hematoma, hematemesis.

hemoglobin.

hemophilia.

hemorrhage.
Note
-rr-.

hemorrhoids.
Note
-rr-.

Hendrix, Jimi.
(1942–1970) Born
Johnny Allen Hendrix;
American rock musician.

Hennes & Mauritz.
Clothing retailer.

Hennessy cognac.

Henry, O.
Pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), American short story writer. The candy bar is
Oh Henry!

hepatitis.

Hephaestus.
Greek god of fire and metalworking; analogous to Roman god Vulcan.

Hephaesteion/Temple of Hephaestus,
Athens, Greece.

Hepplewhite.
Eighteenth-century style of furniture, named after English cabinetmaker
George Hepplewhite
(d. 1786).

Hera.
Greek goddess and wife of Zeus; identified with the Roman goddess Juno.

Heracles, Hercules.
The first was a Greek demigod; the second was a Roman god derived from Heracles.

herbaceous.

Herculaneum.
Roman city destroyed with Pompeii in
AD 79
.

herculean.

Heriot-Watt University,
Edinburgh, Scotland.

hermaphrodite.
Plant or animal having male and female characteristics; from the Greek god
Hermaphroditus.

hermeneutics.
(Sing.) The science of interpretation, especially of biblical texts.

Hermes.
In Greek mythology, the messenger to the gods and guide to souls of the dead, as well as god of science, commerce, oratory, and travel; identified with the Roman god Mercury.

Hero and Leander.
Tragic lovers in Greek legend; Hero drowned herself in despair after Leander perished while swimming the Hellespont to see her.

heroin, heroine.
The first is a dangerous drug; the second is a female hero.

herpetology.
The study of reptiles.

Herschbach, Dudley R.
(1932–) American scientist, awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1986).

Herschel, Sir William.
(1738–1822) German-born English astronomer, discoverer of Uranus.

Hershko, Avram.
(1932–) Hungarian-born Israeli scientist, awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry (2004).

Herzog & de Meuron.
Swiss architectural firm named for
Jacques Herzog
(1950–) and
Pierre de Meuron
(1950–).

Hess, Rudolf.
(1894–1987) German Nazi politician.

Hesse, Hermann.
(1877–1972) German writer.

heterogeneous.
Made of unrelated parts.

heureusement.
(Fr.) “Happily.”

heuristics.
The solving of problems through trial and error; it is singular.

Hewitt, Lleyton.
(1981–) Australian tennis player. Note unusual spelling of first name.

Hewlett-Packard Company.
(Hyphen.)

Heyerdahl, Thor.
(1914–2002) Norwegian anthropologist.

Hezbollah
(or
Hizbollah
). Militant Lebanese Shiite Muslim group.

HI.
Postal abbreviation of Hawaii. The traditional abbreviation is
Ha.,
with period.

Hiawatha, The Song of.
Epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1855).

hiccup, hiccough.
The first is now generally the preferred spelling.

hic et nunc.
(Lat.) “Here and now.”

Hicpochee, Lake,
Florida.

hierarchy, hierarchies, hierarchical.

hieroglyphics.

higgledy-piggledy.

highfalutin
(no apos.) is the standard spelling, though many dictionaries also accept
highfaluting, highfaluten,
and
hifalutin.
It is still considered informal by most sources. Its origin is uncertain.

high-flier.

high jinks
(two words) is the usual spelling, though some dictionaries also accept
hijinks.
The derivation is unknown, but it is not related to (or to be confused with)
jinx
as in bad luck. The word can be used as either singular or plural.

hijab.
Scarf or head cover for Muslim women and, by extension, the system of modesty that goes with it.

Hikmatyar
(or
Hekmatyar
),
Gulbuddin.
(1947–) Afghan warlord, leader of Hizb-e-Islami faction; prime minister of Afghanistan (1993–1994).

Hillary, Sir Edmund.
(1919–2008) New Zealand explorer and mountaineer, first person to scale Everest (1953).

Himmler, Heinrich.
(1900–1945) Nazi leader.

Hindenburg.
Dirigible that exploded at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937.

Hindi, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindustani.
Hindi
is the main language of India and
Hindustani
is its main dialect.
Hinduism
is the main religious and social system of India.
Hindu
describes a follower of Hinduism.

hindrance.
Not
-erance
.

Hindu Kush.
Mountain range in Afghanistan.

hippie.
Not
-ppy
.

Hippocrates.
(c. 460–377
BC
) Greek physician, considered the father of medicine.

hippopotamus,
pl.
hippopotamuses.

hireable.

Hirschfeld, Al.
(1903–2003) American caricaturist.

Hirshhorn Museum,
Washington, D.C. Note
-hh-
.

HIS, HJS.
Hic iacet sepultus/sepulta, hic jacet sepulta
(Lat.), “here lies buried.” Often seen on gravestones.

Hispaniola.
Caribbean island on which Haiti and Dominican Republic are located.

historic, historical.
Something that makes history or is part of history is
historic
. Something that is based on history or describes history is
historical
(“a historical novel”). A historic judicial ruling is one that makes history; a historical ruling is based on precedent. There are, however, at least two exceptions to the rule—in accountancy (“historic costs”) and, curiously, in grammar (“historic tenses”).

histrionics
is plural.

hitchhike, hitchhiker.
Note
-hh-.

hitherto.
“In 1962, the regime took the hitherto unthinkable step of appropriating land” (
Daily Telegraph
).
Hitherto
means “until now,” so in the example cited it is out of step with the sentence's tense. The writer meant
thitherto
(“until then”), but
theretofore
would have been better and
previously
better still.

Hitler, Adolf.
(1889–1945) Not
Adolph
. The German Nazi leader.

Hittites.
Ancient people of Asia Minor.

HIV.
Human immunodeficiency virus, the virus associated with AIDS. “HIV virus” is redundant.

Hizbollah.
Alternative spelling of
Hezbollah.

hoagie.
Type of sandwich.

hoard, horde.
An accumulation of valuables, often hidden, is a
hoard. Horde
applies to any crowd, but particularly to a thronging and disorganized one (“hordes of Christmas shoppers”).

hoary.
Not
-ey
. Gray or aged.

Hobbema, Meindert.
(1638–1709) Dutch artist.

Hobbes, Thomas.
(1588–1679) English philosopher.

hobo,
pl.
hoboes.

Hobson's choice
is sometimes taken to signify a dilemma or difficult decision, but in fact means having no choice at all. It is said to derive from a sixteenth-century stable-keeper in Cambridge, England, named Thomas Hobson, who hired out horses in strict rotation. The customer was allowed to take the one nearest the stable door or none at all.

Hochhuth, Rolf.
(1931–) German playwright.

Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam; formerly Saigon.

Hodder & Stoughton.
British publisher.

Hodgkin disease
(or
Hodgkin's disease
). A cancer of the lymphatic system first described by the British physician
Thomas Hodgkin.

Hoffman, Dustin.
(1937–) American actor.

Hoffmann, The Tales of.
1881 opera by Jacques Offenbach. Note
-ff-, -nn-.

Hoffmann-La Roche.
Swiss pharmaceuticals company.

Hofheinz Pavilion,
Houston, Texas.

Hofstadter, Richard.
(1916–1970) American historian.

Hogmanay.
Scottish name for New Year's Eve.

Hohenzollern.
German royal family and a former province of Prussia.

hoi polloi
means “the masses, the common populace,” and not “the elite” as is often thought. A second problem is that in Greek
hoi
means
the
, so to speak of “the hoi polloi” is redundant.

Hokkaido.
Japanese island; capital Sapporo.

Hokusai, Katsushika.
(1760–1849) Japanese artist and wood engraver.

Holbein, Hans, the Elder.
(c. 1460–1524) German painter and father of
Hans Holbein the Younger
(1497–1543), court painter to Henry VIII of England.

Holiday, Billie.
(1915–1959) American singer; born Eleanora Fagan Holiday.

Holinshed, Raphael.
(d. c. 1580) English historian, known for
The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland
(1577), which was popularly known as
Holinshed's Chronicles
.

hollandaise sauce.
(Not cap.)

Holland America Line.
(No hyphen.) Cruise ship company.

Holman-Hunt, William.
(1827–1910) English painter.

Holmegaard.
Danish crystal.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell.
(1809–1894) Physician, professor at Harvard, poet, essayist, and novelist, father of
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
(1841–1935), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1902–1932).

holocaust.
In Greek the word means “burnt whole” and, generally speaking, it is better reserved for disasters involving fiery destruction. You should not, for instance, use the word to describe the devastation wrought by a hurricane or mudslide. However, a clear exception is in references to the slaughter of Jews by Germany during World War II, when it describes the entire extermination process. In such contexts, the word is capitalized.

Holyroodhouse, Palace of,
Edinburgh, Scotland; pronounced
holly-.

Home Counties.
In British usage, the counties immediately around London.

homely.
If writing for an international audience, you should be aware (or beware) that the word has strikingly different connotations between America and elsewhere. In Britain and most of its former dominions
homely
means comfortable and appealing, having the warm and familiar qualities associated with a home. In America, for obscure reasons, it has long signified something that is unattractive, particularly in respect to the human face. If the audience is international and confusion likely to follow, clearly a more neutral term is advised. In any case, to describe someone as homely, in the American sense, is inescapably subjective, generally uncharitable, and may cause needless hurt.

homogeneous, homogenous.
Homogeneous
means consistent and uniform;
homogenous
is almost always restricted to biological contexts, where it describes organisms having common ancestry.

homonym, homophone.
Both describe words that have strong similarities of sound or spelling, but different meanings. A
homophone
is a word that sounds like another but has a different meaning or spelling, or both. A
homonym
is a word that also has a different meaning, but the same spelling or sound. Thus
blue
and
blew
are both homonyms and homophones. However,
bow
as in a ship and
bow
as in a tie are homonyms (because they are spelled the same) but not homophones (because they have different pronunciations). In short, unless the intention is to emphasize the equivalence of pronunciations,
homonym
is generally the better word.