by Bill Bryson
Dnieper. River in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
Dniester. River in Ukraine and Moldova.
Dobbs Ferry, New York.
Doberman pinscher for the breed of dog, but Ludwig Dobermann for the breeder for whom the dogs are named.
Dodecanese. Chain of twelve Greek islands, including Rhodes and Kos.
Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge. (1832–1898) Real name of Lewis Carroll.
Dodoma. Capital of Tanzania.
Dodsworth. Novel by Sinclair Lewis (1929).
doggerel.
dogsbody. A person given menial tasks to perform for a superior.
doily, pl. doilies.
Dolce & Gabbana. Italian fashion firm.
Dollfuss, Engelbert. (1892–1934) Austrian chancellor (1932–1934), assassinated by Austrian Nazis.
Domenichino. (1581–1641) Italian painter.
Domesday Book. Census of England carried out in 1086; pronounced doomsday.
Dominica. Small (pop. 69,000) Caribbean island state; capital Roseau. Not to be confused with nearby Dominican Republic; capital Santo Domingo.
dominoes.
Dom Pérignon. Champagne.
Donatello. (c. 1386–1466) Italian sculptor, real name Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi.
Donegal. Irish county, but Marquess of Donegall.
Don Giovanni. Opera by Mozart (1787).
Donizetti, Gaetano. (1797–1848) Italian composer.
doorjamb.
doppelganger. (Ger.) A person’s ghostly double.
Doppler effect. The change that occurs in sound waves as the source and the observer move closer together or farther apart, named after Christian Johann Doppler (1803–1853), Austrian physicist.
dormouse for the small rodent, which isn’t actually a mouse at all. The name is thought to be a corruption of the Norman French dormeus, meaning “sleepy.” The plural is dormice.
dos and don’ts. Not do’s.
Dosewallips River, Washington.
Dos Passos, John. (1896–1970) American writer.
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, is the commonest spelling of the name of the Russian novelist (1821–1881), but there are many possible variants for both names.
double meanings. Anyone who has written headlines for a living will know the embarrassment that comes from causing hilarity to a large group of people by writing an inadvertently two-faced headline. I have no doubt that someone at the Toronto Globe and Mail is still cringing at having written “Upturns May Indicate Some Bottoms Touched” (cited in Punch), as must earlier have been the author of the oft-quoted and variously attributed “MacArthur Flies Back to Front.” It is always worth remembering that many words carry a range of meanings, or function as both nouns and verbs, and consequently offer unexpected opportunities for mischief.
double negatives. Most people know you shouldn’t say “I haven’t had no dinner,” but some writers, doubtless more out of haste than ignorance, sometimes perpetrate sentences that are scarcely less jarring, as here: “Stranded and uncertain of their location, the survivors endured for six days without hardly a trace of food” (Chicago Tribune). Since hardly, like scarcely, has the grammatical effect of a negative, it requires no further negation. Make it “with hardly.”
Some usage guides flatly condemn all double negatives, but there is one kind, in which a negative in the main clause is paralleled in a subordinate construction, that we might view more tolerantly. Evans cites this sentence from Jane Austen: “There was none too poor or remote not to feel an interest.” And Shakespeare wrote: “Nor what he said, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness.” But such constructions must be considered exceptional. More often the intrusion of a second negative is merely a sign of fuzzy writing. At best it will force the reader to pause and perform some verbal arithmetic, adding negative to negative, as here: “The plan is now thought unlikely not to go ahead” (London Times). At worst it may leave the reader darkly baffled, as in this memorably convoluted sentence from a leading authority: “Moreover…our sense of linguistic tact will not urge us not to use words that may offend or irritate” (Quirk, The Use of English).
Double Top Mountain, New York, but Doubletop Peak, Wyoming.
doubt if, that, whether. Idiom demands some selectivity in the choice of conjunction to introduce a clause after doubt and doubtful. The rule is simple: Doubt that should be reserved for negative contexts (“There is no doubt that…” “It was never doubtful that…”) and interrogative ones (“Do you have any doubt that…?” “Was it ever doubtful that…?”). Whether or if should be used in all others (“I doubt if he will come” “It is doubtful whether the rain will stop”).
doubtless, undoubtedly, indubitably. “Tonight he faces what is doubtlessly the toughest and loneliest choice of his 13-year stewardship of the Palestine Liberation Organization” (Washington Post). Since doubtless can be an adverb as well as an adjective, there is no need to add -ly to it. Undoubtedly would have been a better choice still because, as the Evanses note, it has a less concessive air. Doubtless usually suggests a tone of reluctance or resignation: “You are doubtless right.” Undoubtedly carries more conviction: “You are undoubtedly right.” Indubitably is a somewhat jocular synonym for either.
Douglass, Frederick. (1817–1895) Escaped American slave who became a leading abolitionist and statesman; born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey.
douse, dowse. The first means to drench; the second means to search for water.
Dow Jones industrial average. (No hyphen, last two words no caps.)
Downers Grove (no apos.), Illinois.
Down House. Charles Darwin’s home; located in Downe, Kent.
Down syndrome. Congenital condition, formerly called mongolism; named after the British physician J. L. H. Down (1828–1896). Sometimes still called Down’s syndrome, but increasingly the convention in medical circles is to abandon the possessive in the names of diseases (so Parkinson disease, Hodgkin disease).
D.Phil. British equivalent of the American Ph.D.
dramatis personae. Cast of characters.
Drechsler, Heike. (1964–) German sprinter and long jumper.
Dreiser, Theodore. (1871–1945) American writer.
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Investment bank.
Drexel Burnham Lambert. (No commas.) Defunct U.S. investment bank.
Dreyfus, Alfred. (1859–1935) French officer whose wrongful imprisonment on Devil’s Island became a celebrated controversy.
Dreyfuss, Richard. (1949–) American actor.
drier, dryer. Drier is the condition of being more dry; a dryer is an appliance for drying clothes or hair.
droit de/du seigneur. A feudal lord’s supposed right to spend the first night with a vassal’s bride.
drunkenness. Note -nn-.
dual, duel. Dual means twofold; duel describes a fight between two parties.
du Barry, Marie Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse. (1743–1793) Mistress of Louis XV, beheaded during the French Revolution.
Dubek, Alexander. (1921–1992) First secretary of the Communist Party (i.e., head of state) in Czechoslovakia (1968–69); his reforms led to the Soviet invasion of the country in 1968.
dubiety. The state of being dubious.
Du Bois, W(illiam) E(dward) B(urghardt). (1868–1963) American political activist and civil rights leader.
Duchamp, Marcel. (1887–1968) French painter.
dudgeon. Feeling of resentment.
duenna. Governess or chaperon; in Spanish, dueña.
due to. Most authorities continue to accept that due is an adjective only and must always modify a noun. Thus, “He was absent due to illness” would be wrong. Make it either “He was absent because of [or owing to] illness” or recast the sentence to give due a noun to modify, e.g., “His absence was due to illness.” The rule is mystifyingly inconsistent—no one has ever really explained why “owing to” used prepositionally is acceptable while “due to” used prepositionally is not—but it should perhaps still be observed, at least in formal
writing, if only to avoid a charge of ignorance.
duffel bag, duffel coat. After Belgian town Duffel.
Dufy, Raoul. (1877–1953) French painter.
Duisburg, Germany; pronounced doos-boork.
Dukakis, Michael (Stanley). (1933–) U.S. presidential candidate (1988); governor of Massachusetts (1975–1979, 1983–1990).
Duma. Russian parliament.
Dumas, Alexandre. (1802-1870) French novelist and dramatist.
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
dumdum bullet.
dumfound (pref.), dumbfound (alt.).
dummkopf. (Ger.) Not dumb-. A stupid person.
Dum spiro, spero. (Lat.) “While I breathe, there is hope.”
Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.
Dunkin’ Donuts.
Dunkirk. French port; in French, Dunkerque.
Dun Laoghaire. Irish port near Dublin; pronounced dun-leery. In the Gaelic spelling Dún has an accent.
Duns Scotus, Johannes. (c. 1270–1308) Scottish philosopher and theologian.
duomo. (It.) Cathedral; pl. duomi.
Du Pont. U.S. chemicals business; formally E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. But on second or informal references it is normally spelled DuPont (one word). The place in Washington, D.C., is Dupont Circle.
du Pré, Jacqueline. (1945–1987) British cellist.
Dürer, Albrecht. (1471–1528) German artist and engraver.
duress.
durum. A type of wheat.
Dushanbe. Capital of Tajikistan.
Düsseldorf. Capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Dutchess County, New York State.
Dutch Guiana. Former name of Surinam.
Dvorák, Antonin. (1841–1904) Czech composer.
dwarfs is generally preferred to dwarves.
dyeing, dying. The first means adding color; the second means becoming dead.
dysentery.
dyslexia.
dysprosium. Chemical element.
dystrophy. Lacking adequate nutrition.
Dzibilchaltún National Park, Mexico.
Ee
each. When each precedes the noun or pronoun to which it refers, the verb should be singular: “Each of us was…” When it follows the noun or pronoun, the verb should be plural: “They each were…” Each not only influences the number of the verb, it also influences the number of later nouns and pronouns. In simpler terms, if each precedes the verb, subsequent nouns and pronouns should be plural (e.g., “They each are subject to sentences of five years”), but if each follows the verb, the subsequent nouns and pronouns should be singular (“They are each subject to a sentence of five years”).
each and every is hopelessly tautological. Choose one or the other.
each other, one another. A few arbiters of usage continue to insist on each other for two things and one another for more than two. There is no harm in observing such a distinction, but also little to be gained from it, and, as Fowler long ago noted, the practice has no basis in historical usage. The possessive form is each other’s, not each others’.
EADS. Short for European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, maker of Airbus planes.
Eagels, Jeanne. (1890–1929) American actress.
Earhart, Amelia. (1897–1937) Female aviator who disappeared while trying to circumnavigate the globe.
Earl’s Court, London.
Earnhardt, Dale. (1951–2001) Racecar driver.
earring. Note -rr-.
Earth, earth. When considering it as a planet, particularly in apposition to other cosmic features, Earth is normally capitalized. In more general senses (“He shot the arrow and it fell to earth”) lowercase is usually favored.
East Chester, New York, and Eastchester, New York (separate places).
eau-de-vie. The French term for brandy; pl. eaux-de-vie.
eBay.
Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, New York; home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1913–1957.
EBITDA. Short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization; in finance, it is a measure of a company’s profits before various deductions.
Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus. The first is a book in the Old Testament; the second a book in the Old Testament Apocrypha.
ECG. Electrocardiogram.
éclat. Brilliant display or effect, notable success, renown.
Eco, Umberto. (1932–) Italian academic and novelist.
economic, economical. If what you mean is cheap and thrifty, use economical. For every other sense use economic. An economic rent is one that is not too cheap for the landlord. An economical rent is one that is not too expensive for the tenant.
ecstasy.
Ecuadorean is generally the preferred spelling for a person or product from Ecuador.
Eddy, Mary Baker. (1821–1910) American religious leader, founder of the Christian Science church, formally the Church of Christ, Scientist.
edema. Swelling of body tissue as a result of abnormal retention of fluid.
Edgware Road. Street and Underground station in London.
Edmonton. Capital of Alberta, Canada.
Eduskunta. Parliament of Finland.
EEG. Electroencephalogram.
eerie.
effect, affect. As a verb, effect means to accomplish (“The prisoners effected an escape”); affect means to influence (“Smoking may affect your health”) or to adopt a pose or manner (“He affected ignorance”). As a noun, the word needed is almost always effect (as in “personal effects” or “the damaging effects of war”). Affect as a noun has a narrow psychological meaning to do with emotional states (by way of which it is related to affection).
effete does not mean effeminate and weak, as it is often used. It means exhausted and barren. An effete poet is not necessarily foppish, but rather someone whose creative impulses are spent.
e.g., i.e. (Lat.) The first is an abbreviation of exempli gratia and means “for example,” as in “Some words are homonyms, e.g., blew and blue.” The second is the abbreviation for id est and means “that is” or “that is to say,” as in “He is pusillanimous, i.e., lacking in courage.”
eggplant. Commonly known elsewhere as aubergine.
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
egoism, egotism. The first pertains to the philosophical notion that a person can prove nothing beyond the existence of his own mind. It is the opposite of altruism and is better left to contexts involving metaphysics and ethics. If all you wish to suggest is inflated vanity or preoccupation with the self, use egotism.
Eichmann, Adolf. (1906–1962) Notorious Nazi war criminal, head of Gestapo; captured in Argentina by Israeli agents in 1960 and tried and executed in Israel.
Eiffel Tower, Paris, but Eifel Mountains, Germany.
Eileithyia. Greek goddess of childbirth.
Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Eisenbahn (Ger.) Railroad.
Eisenhower, Dwight David. (1890–1969) U.S. general and president (1953–1961).
Eisenstaedt, Alfred. (1898–1995) German-born American photographer.
Eisenstein, Sergei. (1898–1948) Russian filmmaker.
eisteddfod. Welsh festival or competition of music or literature; pl. eisteddfods or (in Welsh) eisteddfodau.
either. Either suggests a duality and is almost always better avoided when the context involves quantities of more than two, as in “Decisions on Mansfield’s economy are now made in either Detroit, Pittsburgh, or New York.” Often in such constructions, either is unnecessary anyway; delete it and the sentence says no less. A separate problem with either is seen here: “But in every case the facts either proved too elusive or the explanations too arcane to be satisfactory.” Either should be placed before “the facts” or deleted; for a further discussion, see BOTH…AND. For a discussion of errors of number involving either, see NEITHER.
eke means to add to something in a meager way or with difficulty, not to gain a close but favorable result. A hungry person might eke out a supply of food, but a footb
all team does not eke out a victory.
El Alamein/Al Alamayn. Egyptian village that gave its name to two battles in World War II.
El Dorado. Legendary city of gold.
Electra. In Greek mythology, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the subject of plays by Sophocles, Euripedes, and Aeschylus. An Electra complex is an unnatural attachment to a father by a daughter.
electrolyte. A solution that conducts electricity.
elegy, eulogy. The first is a mournful poem; the second is a tribute to the dead.
elemental, elementary. Elemental refers to things that are basic or primary: “Physiology is an elemental part of a medical student’s studies.” Elementary means simple or introductory: “This phrase book provides an elementary guide to Spanish.”
elephantiasis. Condition of abnormal swelling caused by disease of the lymph nodes.
Elgin Marbles, British Museum, is pronounced with a hard g: el-gin, not el-jin.
elicit, extract, extort. These three are broadly synonymous, but are distinguished by the degree of force that they imply. Elicit, the mildest of the three, means to draw or coax out, and can additionally suggest an element of craftiness: you can elicit information without the informant being aware that he has divulged it. Extract suggests a stronger and more persistent effort, possibly involving threats or importuning. Extort is stronger still and suggests clear threats of violence or harm.
Eli Lilly. Not Lilley. U.S. pharmaceuticals company.
Eliot, George. Pen name of Mary Ann (later Marian) Evans (1819–1880), English author.
Eliot, T. S. (for Thomas Stearns) (1888–1965) American-born British poet, critic, and playwright; awarded Nobel Prize for Literature (1948).
Ellice Islands. Pacific island group; now called Tuvalu.
Elliott Bay, Seattle.
Elliott, Denholm. (1922–1992) British actor.
Ellis Island. Site of former immigration center in New York.
El Salvador. Central American country; capital San Salvador. The people are Salvadorans.
Elstree. Film studios, England.
Élysée Palace, Paris. Official home of French presidents. Not the.
Elysium, Elysian Fields. In Greek mythology, paradise.
embalmment. Note -mm-.
embarrass, embarrassment. Both are misspelled more often than they should be. Note, however, that the French spelling is embarras, as in embarras de richesses (“an embarrassment of riches”) and embarras du choix (“an embarrassment of choice”).