Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (13 page)

cumbrous.
Not
-erous.

cuneiform.
Wedge-shaped writing.

cupful,
pl.
cupfuls.

cupola.

Curaçao.
Island in the Netherlands Antilles. The liqueur produced there is spelled the same but lowercased.

curettage.
A surgical scraping procedure using a curette.

curette.
A surgical instrument.

Curie, Marie.
(1867–1934) Polish-born French physicist. Joint winner with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, she was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. Born Marie Sklodowska.

curlicue.

Curragh Incident.
A near-mutiny in 1914 by British officers stationed at the Curragh, near Dublin, who refused to fire on civilians. A curragh is also a type of small boat.

current, currently.
When there is a need to contrast the present with the past,
current
has its place, but all too often it is merely an idle occupier of space, as in these two examples from a single article in
Time
magazine: “The Government currently owns 740 million acres, or 32.7% of the land in the U.S…. Property in the area is currently fetching $125 to $225 per acre.” The notion of currency is implicit in both statements, as it is in most other sentences in which
current
and
currently
appear.
Currently
should be deleted from both. (The second sentence could be further improved by changing “is fetching” to “fetches.”)

curriculum vitae.
Another name for a résumé.

Curtiss aircraft.
Named after
Glenn Curtiss
(1878–1930), American inventor and aviator.

Curtiz, Michael.
(1888–1962) Hungarian-born American film director; born Mihály Kertész.

curtsy.
Not
-ey.

curvaceous.
Not
-ious.

cut back
is generally tautological, as here: “Losses in the metal stamping division have forced the group to cut back production.” More succinct to say “have forced the group to cut production.”

cyanosis.
Turning blue from lack of oxygen.

cyclamen.

cymbal.
Percussion instrument.

Cynewulf.
(fl. eighth c.) Anglo-Saxon poet.

Cyrillic alphabet.
Alphabet widely used for Slavonic languages. It is named after St. Cyril, who is popularly credited with its invention. Some of the characters vary slightly between Russian, Bulgarian, and other languages.

cystic fibrosis.
Genetic disease.

cystitis.

Dd

Dachau.
Town near Munich, site of infamous concentration camp in World War II.

Dadullah, Mullah.
(1966–2007) Afghan Taliban commander; sometimes called Dadullah Akhund.

Daedalus.
In Greek mythology, father of Icarus and builder of the Labyrinth; but the character in the works of James Joyce is
Stephen Dedalus
and the pseudonym used by the Italian author Umberto Eco is also
Dedalus.

daguerreotype.
Early photographic process, named after
Louis Daguerre
(1789–1851), French painter and photographer.

Dahomey.
Former name of Benin.

Dai-Ichi Kangyo.
Japanese bank.

Dáil Éireann.
Lower house of Irish parliament; pronounced
doyle air-ran.

DaimlerChrysler AG.
German car manufacturer, separated in 2007 into
Daimler AG
and
Chrysler Holding.

daiquiri.

Dalai Lama.
The high priest of Tibet.

d'Alembert, Jean Le Rond.
(1717–1783) French mathematician.

Damariscotta.
Town and lake in Maine.

Danaë.
Mother of Perseus in Greek mythology.

danke schön.
(Ger.) “Thank you very much.”

d'Annunzio, Gabriele.
(1863–1938) Italian writer and adventurer.

danse macabre.
Not
dance
. From the French for “a dance of death.” The plural is
danses macabres
.

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.

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.