Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [117]
Takeshita, Noburu. (1924–2000) Japanese prime minister (1987–1989).
Taklimakan. Chinese desert.
Tale of a Tub, A. (Not The.) Satire by Jonathan Swift (1704).
Tales of Hoffmann, The. Opera by Jacques Offenbach (1881).
Taliban (or Taleban). Sunni Muslim insurgent force in Afghanistan.
Tallahassee. Capital of Florida.
Tallahatchie. River in Mississippi.
Tallinn. Capital of Estonia.
Talmud. Sacred Hebrew writings, the main body of laws for Judaism, comprising two parts: the Mishna, containing the laws themselves, and the Gemara, containing later commentaries and elaborations.
Tamaulipas, Mexico.
tambourine. Percussion instrument.
Tamburlaine the Great. Play by Christopher Marlowe; the Mongol conqueror himself is now usually spelled Tamerlane (1336–1405).
tameable.
Tammany Hall. Fraternal society of the Democratic Party in New York.
tam-o’-shanter. Scottish cap, named after the hero in the Burns poem “Tam o’Shanter.”
T’ang (or Tang). Chinese dynasty, ruled 618–907.
Tanguy, Yves. (1900–1955) French-born American painter.
Tantalus. In Greek mythology, a son of Zeus for whom food and drink forever move out of reach whenever he tries to attain them.
Tanzania. African nation formed by the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964; capital Dodoma.
Taoiseach. The prime minister of Ireland; pronounced “tea-sock.”
taradiddle (or tarradiddle). Nonsense.
tarantella. Type of Neapolitan dance. Not to be confused with tarantula, the type of spider.
Tar Heels (two words) for people and things associated with North Carolina, and for the sporting teams of the University of North Carolina.
tariff.
tarpaulin.
tartar. A sauce; dental plaque.
Tartar. Intractable, violent person; member of a Turkic-speaking people in central Asia.
Tartuffe. Play by Molière (1664).
Tashkent. Capital of Uzbekistan.
TASS. Short for Telegrafnoye Agenstvo Sovyetskovo Soyuza, Soviet news agency; now called ITAR-TASS News Agency.
Tate Gallery, the London art museum, now consists of four separate branches: Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, and Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives in the provinces.
tattoo.
Taufa’ahau Tupou IV. (1918–2006) King of Tonga (1965–2006).
tautology, redundancy, pleonasm, solecism. Although various authorities describe various shades of distinction between the first three words, those distinctions are generally slight and frequently contradictory. Essentially all three mean using more words than necessary to convey an idea. Not all repetition is inexcusable. It may be used for effect, as in poetry, or for clarity, or in deference to idiom. “OPEC countries,” “SALT talks,” and “HIV virus” are all technically redundant because the second word is already contained in the preceding abbreviation, but only the ultra-finicky would deplore them. Similarly, in “wipe that smile off your face,” the last two words are tautological—there is no other place a smile could be—but the sentence would not stand without them. Finally, solecism describes any violation of idiom or grammar. Redundancies, tautologies, and pleonasms are all solecisms.
taxiing for the act of moving a plane into position.
taxonomy. The science of classification of organisms.
Tay-Sachs disease. Genetic disorder that affects the nervous system.
Tbilisi. Formerly Tiflis; capital of Georgia.
Tchaikovsky, Peter Illich. (1840–1893) Russian composer.
Teamsters, International Brotherhood of. Trade union.
Teatro alla Scala. Formal name of the Milan opera house commonly called La Scala.
Technicolor. (Cap.)
tectonics. Not tech-; study of the structure and movement of Earth’s crust.
Te Deum. Latin hymn.
tee-hee. The sound of laughter.
teetotaler.
Tegucigalpa. Capital of Honduras.
Tehachapi Mountains, California.
Tehran. Capital of Iran.
Tehuntepec, Isthmus of. Narrowest part of Mexico.
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. (1881–1955) French scientist, priest, and philosopher.
Telefónica. Spanish telecommunications company.
Telemachus. In Greek mythology, the son of Odysseus and Penelope.
Telstar. Communications satellite.
temblor, not trem-, for an earthquake.