by Bill Bryson
Dante Alighieri. (1265–1321) Italian poet; the adjective is Dantesque.
Danzig. Former name of Gdansk, the Polish city.
D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. Former advertising agency.
Dardanelles. The narrow channel linking the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, known in antiquity as the Hellespont.
Dar es Salaam. Former capital of Tanzania. See also DODOMA.
Darjeeling for the tea, but Darjiling for the Indian city for which it is named.
data is a plural. Although this fact is widely disregarded, you should at least be aware that “The data was fed into a computer” is incorrect. It is also worth observing that the sense of data is generally best confined to the idea of raw, uncollated bits of information, the sort of stuff churned out by computers, and not used as a simple synonym for facts or reports or information.
da Vinci, Leonardo, for the Florentine artist (1452–1519). On second reference he is properly referred to as “Leonardo,” not as “da Vinci.”
Davy, Sir Humphry. (1778–1829) Not Humphrey. English chemist.
Dayan, Moshe. (1915–1981) Israeli general and politician.
dB is the abbreviation for decibel.
DDR. Short for Deutsche Demokratische Republik; former East Germany.
DDT. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, an insecticide.
debacle. A rout or ruin; in French, débâcle.
De Bakey, Michael. (1908–) American heart surgeon.
de Beauvoir, Simone. (1908–1986) French author.
De Benedetti, Carlo. (1934–) Italian industrialist.
debonair. In French, it is débonnaire.
Debrett’s Peerage and Baronetage. Guide to British aristocracy.
Debs, Eugene V(ictor). (1855–1926) American socialist and labor leader.
DeBusschere, Dave. (1940–2003) American basketball and baseball player.
Debussy, (Achille-) Claude. (1862–1918) French composer.
débutante.
decathlon. The ten events are long jump, high jump, pole vault, discus, shot put, javelin, 110-meter hurdles, and 100-, 400-, and 1,500-meter races.
deceit, deceive.
deci-. Prefix meaning one-tenth.
decimate. Literally the word means to reduce by a tenth (from the ancient practice of punishing the mutinous or cowardly by killing every tenth man). By extension it may be used to describe the inflicting of heavy damage, but it should never be used to denote annihilation, as in this memorably excruciating sentence cited by Fowler: “Dick, hotly pursued by the scalp-hunter, turned in his saddle, fired and literally decimated his opponent.” Equally to be avoided are contexts in which the word’s use is clearly inconsistent with its literal meaning, as in “Frost decimated an estimated 80 percent of the crops.”
décolletage. A plunging neckline on clothing.
Dedalus, Stephen. Character in James Joyce works. See also DAEDALUS.
de facto. (Lat.) Existing in fact but not in law; see also DE JURE.
defective, deficient. When something is not working properly, it is defective; when it is missing a necessary part, it is deficient.
Defferre, Gaston. (1910–1986) French Socialist politician and journalist.
defibrillator.
definite, definitive. Definite means precise and unmistakable. Definitive means final and conclusive. A definite offer is a clear one; a definitive offer is one that permits of no haggling.
Defoe, Daniel. (1659–1731) British author.
defuse, diffuse. Occasionally confused. Defuse means to make less harmful; diffuse means to spread thinly.
de Gaulle, Charles. (1890–1970) President of France (1944–1946, 1959–1969).
de haut en bas. (Fr.) “With contempt.”
De Havilland. Aircraft.
Deirdre of the Sorrows. Play by J. M. Synge.
déjà vu.
de jure. (Lat.) According to law; see also DE FACTO.
Dekker, Thomas. (c. 1570–c. 1640) English playwright.
de Klerk, F. W. (for Frederik Willem) (1936–) President of South Africa (1989–1994); co-winner with Nelson Mandela of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
de Kooning, Willem. (1904–1997) Dutch-born American painter.
Delacroix, Eugène. (1789–1863) French painter.
de La Tour, Georges. (1593–1652) French painter.
De Laurentiis, Dino. (1919–) Italian film producer; his formal first name is Agostino.
delectable. Not -ible.
Deledda, Grazia. (1871–1936) Italian novelist, awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926.
deleterious.
delftware. (No cap.)
Delilah.
DeLillo, Don. (1936–) American novelist.
Delius, Frederick. (1862–1934) British composer.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. (No commas.) International accountancy company.
DeLorean. Automobile named for John Z. DeLorean (1925–2005).
de los Angeles, Victoria. (1924–2005) Spanish soprano.
Delta Air Lines. Note Air Lines two words.
Del Toro, Benicio. (1967–) Puerto Rican actor.
De Lucchi, Michele. (1951–) Italian architect and designer.
demagogue is the preferred spelling, though some authorities also accept demagog.
de mal en pis, de pis en pis. (Fr.) Both mean “from bad to worse.”
de Maupassant, (Henri René Albert) Guy. (1850–1893) French writer of short stories and novels.
Dementieva, Elena. (1981–) Russian tennis player.
Demerol. (Cap.) Type of medication.
Demeter. Greek goddess of agriculture and fertility; the Roman equivalent is Ceres.
De Mille, Cecil B(lount). (1881–1959) American film producer and director, noted for epics.
demimonde. (In French, demi-monde.) Term loosely applied to prostitutes, kept women, or anyone else living on the wrong side of respectability.
demise does not mean decline; it means death.
de mortuis de nil nisi bonum. (Lat.) Say nothing but good of the dead.
Demosthenes. (384–322 BC) Athenian orator and statesman.
Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska; Denali is also an alternative name for Mount McKinley, North America’s highest peak (20,320 feet; 6,194 meters), which stands within the park.
Deng Xiaoping. (1904–1997) Chinese elder statesman.
De Niro, Robert. (1943–) American actor.
dénouement. Outcome or solution.
deodorant.
Deo gratias. (Lat.) “Thanks to God.”
Deo volente. (Lat.) “God willing.”
De Palma, Brian. (1941–) American film director.
dependant, dependent. The first refers to a person, the second to a situation.
deplete, reduce. Though their meanings are roughly the same, deplete has the additional connotation of injurious reduction. As the Evanses note, a garrison may be reduced by administrative order, but depleted by sickness.
deplore. Strictly, you may deplore a thing, but not a person. I may deplore your behavior, but I cannot deplore you.
deprecate does not mean to play down or show modesty, as is often intended. It means to disapprove of strongly or to protest against.
de profundis. (Lat.) “From the depths” a heartfelt cry.
De Quincy, Thomas. (1785–1859) English writer.
de rigueur. Often misspelled. Note the second u.
derisive, derisory. Something that is derisive conveys ridicule or contempt. Something that is derisory invites it. A derisory offer is likely to provoke a derisive response.
descendible.
Deschanel, Zooey. (1980–) American actress.
Deschutes River, Oregon.
déshabillé (Fr.) Untidily or incompletely dressed; usually rendered in English as dishabille.
De Sica, Vittorio. (1902–1974) Italian film actor and director.
desiccate.
de Soto, Hernando. (c. 1496–1542) Spanish explorer.
&nb
sp; desperate.
despite, in spite of. There is no distinction between the two. A common construction is seen here: “But despite the cold weather the game went ahead.” Because despite and in spite of indicate a change of emphasis, “but” is generally superfluous with either. It is enough to say “Despite the cold weather the game went ahead.”
destroy is an incomparable—almost. If a house is consumed by fire, it is enough to say that it was destroyed, not that it was “completely destroyed” or “totally destroyed.” However, and illogical as it may seem, it is all right to speak of a house that has been partly destroyed. There is simply no other way of putting it without resorting to more circuitous descriptions. That is perhaps absurd and inconsistent, but ever thus was English.
destructible.
detestable.
de trop. (Fr.) Excessive.
Deukmejian, George. (1928–) Republican governor of California (1983–1991).
deus ex machina. In drama, a character or event that arrives late in the action and provides a solution.
Deuteronomy. The last book of the Pentateuch in the Old Testament.
Deutsche mark. (Two words.) Former currency of Germany. The euro is now used.
Deutsches Museum, Munich.
de Valera, Éamon. (1882–1975) U.S.-born prime minister (1919–1921, 1932–1948, and 1957–1959) and president (1959–1973) of Ireland.
devilry, deviltry. Either is acceptable.
Devil’s Island, French Guiana; site of infamous prison; in French, île du Diable.
Devils Playground. (No apos.) Desert in California.
Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming. (No apos.)
DeVoto, Bernard. (1897–1955) American historian and biographer. Note DeVoto is one word.
De Vries, Peter. (1910–1993) American novelist.
dexterous is preferred, but dextrous is acceptable.
Dhaulagiri. Himalayan mountain, seventh highest in the world (26,810 feet; 8,172 meters).
dhow. Arab boat.
DHTML. Short for Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language; computer terminology.
Diaghilev, Sergei (Pavlovich). (1872–1929) Russian ballet impresario, founder of Ballets Russes.
diagnosis, prognosis. To make a diagnosis is to identify and define a problem, usually a disease. A prognosis is a projection of the course and likely outcome of a problem. Diagnosis applies only to conditions, not to people. Thus, “Asbestos victims were not diagnosed in large numbers until the 1960s” (Time) is not quite right. It was the victims’ conditions that were not diagnosed, not the victims themselves.
dialect, patois. Both describe the form of language prevailing in a region and can be used interchangeably, though patois is normally better reserved for contexts involving French or its variants. “He spoke in the patois of Yorkshire” is at best jocular. The plural of patois, incidentally, is also patois.
Dial “M” for Murder. Note quotation marks around M. Drama by Frederick Knott and film by Alfred Hitchcock.
dialysis.
Diana. Roman goddess of the moon and the hunt; identified with the Greek goddess Artemis.
diaphragm.
diarrhea.
Dickinson, Emily (Elizabeth). (1830–1886) American poet.
Diderot, Denis. (1713–1784) French encyclopedist and philosopher.
Didrikson, Babe. (1913–1956) American golfer and athlete. Real name Mildred Didrikson; last name later Didrikson Zaharias.
Diefenbaker, John George. (1895–1979) Prime minister of Canada (1957–1963).
Dien Bien Phu. Battle in 1954 that led the French to pull out of Indochina (later Vietnam).
Dieppe. French port.
dieresis, not dia-, for the punctuation mark consisting of two dots above a vowel, as in Brontë or Chloë, which is used to indicate that a vowel that could be silent should in fact be sounded. (It is a curiosity of English that the word dieresis is entitled to, but never given, the mark it describes.) The dieresis mark always goes above the second vowel in a pair. It should not be confused with the German umlaut, which also consists of two dots, as in Göring or Müller, but which signifies a phonetic shift rather than an elaboration into separate sounds.
diesel. Not deisel.
Diet. Japanese parliament.
dietitian.
Dietrich, Marlene. (1904–1992) German-born actress and singer; born Maria Magdalene von Losch.
Dieu et mon droit. (Fr.) “God and my right,” motto of the British royal family.
different. Often used unnecessarily, as in “It is found in more than 250 different types of plants.” In such constructions it can nearly always be deleted without loss.
different from, to, than. Among the more tenacious beliefs among many writers and editors is that different may be followed only by from. In fact, the belief has no real basis. Different from is, to be sure, the usual form in most sentences and the only acceptable form in some, as when it precedes a noun or pronoun (“My car is different from his” “Men are different from women”). But when different introduces a clause, there can be no valid objection to following it with a to (though this usage is chiefly British) or than, as in this sentence by John Maynard Keynes: “How different things appear in Washington than in London.” You may, if you insist, change it to “How different things appear in Washington from how they appear in London,” but all it gives you is more words, not better grammar.
diffuse. To spread out; not to be confused with defuse, meaning to make safe.
digestible.
dike, dyke. Either is acceptable.
dilapidated, dilapidation.
dilatory. Not -tary.
dildos.
dilemma refers to a situation involving two courses of action, both unsatisfactory. A person who cannot decide what he wants for breakfast is not in a dilemma.
dilettante. A lover of, or dabbler in, the fine arts; most often used with a hint of condescension; pl. dilettantes or dilettanti.
diligence, diligent.
dilly-dally.
DiMaggio (no space) for the baseball players (and brothers) Joe (1914–1999) and Dom (1917–).
Diners Club International. (No apos.)
Dinesen, Isak. Pen name of Karen Blixen (1885–1962), Danish writer and baroness.
dingo. Wild Australian dog; pl. dingoes.
Dione. Moon of Saturn.
Dionysius the Elder. (c. 430–367 BC) Tyrant of Syracuse who suspended the famous sword above the head of Damocles.
Dionysus (or Dionysos). Not -ius; Greek god of wine and revelry, corresponding to the Roman god Bacchus; the adjective is Dionysian or Dionysiac.
diphtheria. Note that the first syllable is spelled diph-, not dipth-, and is pronounced accordingly.
dirigible.
dirigisme. (Fr.) Dominance of the economy by the state; adjective is dirigiste.
dirndl. Alpine dress.
disassemble, dissemble. The first means to take apart; the second means to conceal.
disassociate, dissociate. The first is not incorrect, but the second has the virtue of brevity.
disastrous.
disc, disk. There is no special logic to which it is used in American English. Disc generally is used for contexts involving music and entertainment (compact disc, disc jockey, video disc) and in the contexts of machinery (disc brakes, disc harrow). Disk is preferred in anatomy (slipped disk) and computer storage (hard disk, floppy disk). In most situations, the best advice is to strive for consistency.
discernible. Not -able.
discomfit, discomfort. “In this she is greatly assisted by her husband…who enjoys spreading discomfiture in a good cause as much as she does” (Observer). The writer here, like many before him, clearly meant discomfort, which has nothing in common with discomfiture beyond a superficial resemblance. Discomfit means to rout, overwhelm, or completely disconcert. Some dictionaries now accept the newer sense of to perplex or induce uneasiness, but I would submit that the distinction is very much worth preserving. If di
scomfort is the condition you have in mind, why not use that word and leave discomfiture for less discriminating users?
discothèque.
discreet, discrete. The first means circumspect, careful, showing good judgment (“He promised to be discreet in his inquiries”). The second means unattached or unrelated (“The compound was composed of discrete particles”).
dishabille. To be untidily or incompletely dressed; in French, déshabillé.
disheveled.
disinterested, uninterested. The first means neutral, the second not caring. A disinterested person is one who has no stake in the outcome of an event; an uninterested person is one who doesn’t care. As with DISCOMFIT, DISCOMFORT (see above), the distinction is an important one and worth observing.
dismissible.
dispensable.
disposal, disposition. If you are talking about getting rid of, use disposal (“the disposal of nuclear weapons”). If you mean arranging, use disposition (“the disposition of troops on the battlefield”).
dissatisfy, dissatisfied, dissatisfaction. Note -ss-.
dissect, dissection.
dissemble, disassemble. The first means to conceal; the second means to take apart.
dissent, but dissension.
dissimilar.
dissipate.
dissociate, disassociate. The first is preferred, but either is acceptable.
dissolvable.
distrait, distraught. The first means abstracted in thought, absentminded. The second means deeply agitated.
disturb, perturb. They can often be used interchangeably, but generally the first is better applied to physical agitation, the second to mental agitation.
dived, dove. Either is acceptable.
diverge. When two things diverge, they move farther apart (just as when they converge they come together). It is not a word that should be applied freely to any difference of opinion, but only to those in which a rift is widening.
divergences. Not -ies.
divertissement. Light diversion.
Divina Commedia, La. Dante’s Divine Comedy.
divvy. To divide, especially equally, as with a jackpot.
Djakarta. Use Jakarta.
Djibouti. African republic, formerly French Somaliland and, briefly, French Territory of Afars and Issas; the capital is also called Djibouti.
Djokovic, Novak. (1987–) Serbian tennis player.
DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid.