Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (44 page)

troubadour.

trousseau,
pl.
trousseaus/trousseaux.

Trovatore, II.
Opera by Giuseppe Verdi (1853).

Trudeau, Garry.
(1948–) American cartoonist, creator of Doonesbury.

Trudeau, Pierre (Elliott).
(1919–2000) Prime minister of Canada (1968–1979, 1980–1984).

true facts
is always either redundant or wrong. All facts are true. Things that are not true are not facts.

Truman, Harry S.
(1884–1972) Democratic politician, president (1945–53). The
S
stands for nothing as Truman had no middle name, and for that reason some authorities spell it without a period.

try and,
as in constructions such as “We'll try and come back next week,” is regarded as colloquial by many authorities and thus is better avoided in serious writing. Use “try to” instead.

tse-tse fly.

tsunami.

Tsvangirai, Morgan.
(1952–) Opposition leader in Zimbabwe, president of Movement for Democratic Change.

Tuckahoe,
New York.

Tucson,
Arizona.

Tuileries,
Paris.

Tumucumaque, Serra de.
Mountain range in northern Brazil.

tumult, turmoil.
Both describe confusion and agitation. The difference is that
tumult
applies only to people, but
turmoil
applies to both people and things.
Tumultuous
, however, can also describe things as well as people (“tumultuous applause,” “tumultuous seas”).

turbid, turgid.
The first means muddy or impenetrable; the second means inflated, grandiloquent, bombastic.

Turkmenistan.
Former republic of the Soviet Union, now an independent state; capital Ashgabat (or Ashkhabad).

turpitude
does not signify rectitude or integrity, as is sometimes thought, but rather baseness or depravity. “He is a man of great moral turpitude” is not a compliment.

turquoise.

Tuskegee,
Alabama, home of
Tuskegee University
(formerly Tuskegee Institute).

Tussaud's, Madame.
London waxworks museum.

Tutankhamun
(or
Tutankhamen
). (c. 1359–c. 1340
BC
) Egyptian pharaoh.

tutti-frutti.

TWA.
Trans World Airlines (no hyphens), former airline.

Twain, Mark.
Pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910), American author.

Tylers' and Bricklayers' Company.
London livery company. Not
Tilers'
.

Tymoshenko, Yulia.
(1960–) Prime minister of Ukraine (2005).

Tynedale
(or
Tindale
),
William.
(c. 1484–1536) English biblical scholar.

tyrannosaur.
Any dinosaur of the genus
Tyrannosaurus
. The largest tyrannosaur was
Tyrannosaurus rex
.

tyrannous.

tyro.
A novice; pl.
tyros
.

Tyrol.
Region of Austria and Italy; not
the Tyrol
. In German Tirol; in Italian, Tirolo.

Tyrrhenian Sea.
Stretch of the Mediterranean between Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily.

Tyus, Wyomia.
(1945–) American sprinter.

Uu

U.
A Burmese honorific, roughly equivalent to
Mr.

UAE.
United Arab Emirates.

UAL.
United Airlines.

UAR.
United Arab Republic, title used by Egypt and Syria together from 1958 to 1961, and by Egypt alone from 1961 to 1971.

Übermensch.
(Ger.) Superman.

ubiquitous, ubiquity.

U-boat.
Short for
Unterseeboot
, German term for submarine.

UBS PaineWebber Inc.
Investment company.

Uccellina National Park,
Tuscany, Italy.

Uccello, Paolo.
(1397–1475) Italian painter; born Paolo di Dono.

UCLA.
University of California at Los Angeles.

UDI.
Unilateral declaration of independence.

Udmurtiya.
Russian republic.

Ueberroth, Peter.
(1937–) American businessman, former commissioner of Major League Baseball.

UEFA.
Union of European Football Associations.

Ueno Park.
Station and district, Tokyo.

Uffizi Gallery,
Florence; in Italian, Galleria degli Uffizi.

UHF.
Ultra-high frequency.

UHT.
Ultra-heat tested (not
ultra-high temperature
), process for long-life milk products.

uisge beatha.
Gaelic for
whiskey.

ukase.
An edict.

Ukraine.
Former republic of Soviet Union, now an independent state; capital Kiev.

ukulele.
Not
uke-.
Stringed instrument.

Ulaanbaatar
(or
Ulan Bator
). Capital of Mongolia.

Ullmann, Liv.
(1939–) Norwegian actress.

Ullswater.
One of the Lake District lakes, Cumbria, England.

ulna.
The larger bone in the forearm; pl.
ulnas/ulnae.

Ulster.
Province of Ireland,
not
coextensive with Northern Ireland; three counties are in the Republic of Ireland.

ultimatums.

ululate.
To howl or hoot.

Uluru
is the formal, and generally preferred, name for Ayers Rock in Australia; pronounced
oo-luh-roo
. It is part of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The resort alongside it is Yulara.

Ulysses/Odysseus.
Two names for the same person: the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan war. The first is Latin, the second Greek.

Umayyad Dynasty.
Muslim empire (661–750).

umbilicus.
The umbilical cord.

unadulterated.

un-American, un-French,
etc.

unanimous, unanimity.

una voce.
(Lat.) With one voice, unanimously.

unbiased.

unbribable.

unchristian,
but
non-Christian.

UNCTAD.
United Nations Conference on (
not
for) Trade and Development, agency set up in 1964 with the purpose of smoothing trade differences between nations and promoting economic development.

unctuous.
Oily.

underdog.
(One word.)

Underground.
(Cap.) London subway system.

Under Milk Wood.
(Three words.) Dylan Thomas play (1954).

under way.
(Two words.)

un-English, un-British,
etc.

UNESCO.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

unexceptionable, unexceptional.
Something that is
unexceptional
is ordinary, not outstanding (“an unexceptional wine”). Something that is
unexceptionable
is not open to objections (“In Britain,
grey
is the preferred spelling, but
gray
is unexceptionable”).

Ungaretti, Giuseppe.
(1888–1970) Italian poet.

unget-at-able.
Note
unget
is one word.

unguent.
Soothing cream or lotion.

UNHCR.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

unicameral legislature.
A legislature having just one chamber.

UNICEF.
United Nations Children's Fund (formerly, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund).

UNIDO.
United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

unilateral, bilateral, multilateral
are slightly numbing words and are often unneeded anyway, as in “Bilateral trade talks are to take place next week between Britain and Japan.” Trade talks between Britain and Japan could hardly be other than two-sided. More often than not the context makes clear how much laterality is involved.

uninterested, disinterested.
The first means not caring; the second means neutral.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
(Abbr. USSR.) In Russian, Soyuz Sovyetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; ceased to exist in 1991. See also
SOVIET UNION
.

unique
means the only one of its kind. A thing cannot be “more unique” or “one of the most unique,” etc.

unison.
All together.

Unisys.
U.S. computer company.

United Airlines.
(Abbr. UAL.) Not Air Lines.

United Arab Emirates.
Formerly the Trucial States; composed of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujaira, Ras al Khaima, Sharja, and Umm al Qaiwain.

United Arab Republic.
(Abbr. UAR.) Title used by Egypt and Syria together (1958–61) and by Egypt alone (1961–1971).

UnitedHealth Group.
Health services company. Note UnitedHealth is one word.

United Kingdom.
Formally, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

University College London.
(No comma.)

unknown
is often used imprecisely, as here: “A hitherto unknown company called Ashdown Oil has emerged as a bidder for the Wytch Farm oil interests.” A company must be known to someone, if only its directors. It would be better to call it a little-known company.

unlabeled.

unless and until.
One or the other, please.

unlicensed.

unmanageable.

unmistakable.

unmovable.

unnamable.

unnatural.
Note
-nn-.

unnecessary.
Note
-nn-.

unnerved.
Note
-nn-.

unnumbered.
Note-
nn-.

unparalleled.

unpractical/impractical.
The words are synonyms.

unraveled.

unridable.

UNRRA.
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

unselfconscious.

unshakable.

until, till, 'til, 'till.
The first two are legitimate and interchangeable. The second two are wrong and, indeed, illiterate.

untimely death
is often somewhat fatuous; few deaths are timely.

ununbiium, ununhexium, ununnilium, ununquadium, unununium.
Chemical elements all discovered or first produced between 1994 and 2000.

unwieldy.

up-and-coming.
(Hyphens.)

Upanishads.
Ancient Hindu metaphysical treatises.

UPI.
United Press International.

Upper Volta.
Former name of Burkina Faso.

Uppsala,
Sweden.

upsilon.
Not
-ll-.
Twentieth letter of the Greek alphabet.

upsy-daisy.

Urdang, Laurence.
(1927–) American lexicographer.

uremia.
Toxic blood condition associated with kidney failure.

urethra.
Urinary duct; pl.
urethrae
or
urethras.

Uriah Heep.
Character in Dickens's
David Copperfield
.

Uribe, Álvaro.
(1952–) President of Colombia (2002–).

URL.
Abbreviation of
uniform resource locator,
technospeak for a Web address on the Internet.

Urquhart.
Scottish family name; pronounced
erk'
-
ert
.

Ursa Major, Ursa Minor.
Constellations meaning respectively Big Bear and Little Bear.

ursine.
Like or of a bear.

Ursuline.
Order of nuns.

Uruguay.
South American republic; capital Montevideo.

USAF.
United States Air Force.

usage, use.
The words are largely interchangeable. In general,
usage
appears in contexts involving languages (“modern English usage”) and
use
in most other cases.

US Airways.
Formerly USAir.

USB.
Short for Universal Serial Bus.

US Bancorp.
American banking group.

US Cellular Field.
Home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team.

use, usage.
Usage
normally appears only in the context of formal practices, particularly in regard to linguistics (“modern English usage”), and
use
does duty for all other senses, but most dictionaries recognize the words as interchangeable in nearly all contexts. See also
UTILIZE, USE
.

USSR.
See
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
.

usufruct.
The right to use another's property so long as no damage is done, as with walking on a path across farmland.

usury.
The practice of lending money at a grossly inflated rate of interest; the adjectival form is
usurious.

Uther Pendragon.
Legendary father of King Arthur.

utilize, use.
Utilize
is the preferred term for making use of something that wasn't intended for the purpose (“He utilized a coat hanger to repair the car”) or for extracting maximum value (“The farmers utilized every square inch of the hillside”). In other senses
use
is generally better.

Utrillo, Maurice.
(1883–1955) French artist.

Utsunomiya,
Honshu, Japan.

Uttar Pradesh.
Indian state; capital Lucknow.

utterance.

Utzon, Jørn.
(1918–) Danish architect, best known for designing Sydney Opera House.

uvula.
The piece of flesh hanging at the back of the mouth above the throat.

uxoricide.
The murder of a wife by her husband, and the man who commits such a crime.

Uzbekistan.
Former Soviet republic, now an independent country; capital Tashkent.