Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [121]
traceable.
tradable.
trademark, trade name. A trademark is a name, symbol, or other depiction that formally identifies a product. A trade name is the name of the maker, not of the product. Cadillac is a trademark, General Motors a trade name.
Tralee, Ireland.
tranquillity, but tranquilize, tranquilizer.
transatlantic. Most dictionaries and style books (but by no means all) prefer transatlantic to trans-Atlantic. Similarly, transalpine, transarctic, transpacific.
Transdniestra. Breakaway part of Moldova.
trans fats. (Two words.)
transgressor. Not -er.
transship, transshipment.
transitive verb. In grammar, a verb that requires a direct object.
translucent is sometimes wrongly treated as a synonym for transparent. A translucent material is one through which light passes but through which images cannot be clearly seen, as with frosted glass. Note also the spelling; it is not -scent.
transsexual.
Trappist monk.
trattoria. Italian restaurant; pl. trattorie.
Traviata, La. Opera by Giuseppe Verdi (1853).
treiskaidekaphobia. Fear of the number 13.
trek, trekked.
Trentino-Alto Adige. Region of Italy.
TriBeCa. Short for Triangle Below Canal Street, New York City.
Triborough Bridge, New York City.
Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean republic; capital Port-of-Spain. Natives are Trinidadians or Tobagonians, depending on which part of the republic they come from.
Trintignant, Jean-Louis. (1930–) French actor.
triptych. Painting on three panels hinged together.
trireme. Ancient Greek ship with three banks of oars.
Tristan da Cunha. British island colony in the south Atlantic Ocean.
Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, The Life and Opinions of. Novel by Laurence Sterne (1760–1767).
trivia is, strictly speaking, a plural, and a few dictionaries recognize it only as such. “All this daily trivia is getting on my nerves” should be “All these daily trivia are getting on my nerves.” There is no singular form (the Latin trivium now has only historical applications), but there are the singular words trifle and triviality. The other option, if the plural form seems ungainly, is to convert trivia into an adjective: “All these trivial daily matters are getting on my nerves.”
troglodyte. Cave dweller.
troika. A group of three.
Troilus and Cressida. Play by Shakespeare (c. 1601). The poem by Geoffrey Chaucer is “Troylus and Criseyde.” In Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato the spelling is Criseida.
Trollope, Anthony. (1815–1852) English novelist, son of Frances Trollope (1780–1863), novelist and travel writer.
trompe-l’oeil. (Fr.) Painting designed to deceive the viewer into thinking that the object depicted is not painted but real; pronounced tromp loy.
Trooping the Color. The annual event celebrating the British queen’s official birthday in June (as opposed to her actual birthday in April) is not the Trooping of the Color, as it is often written, even in Britain, but just Trooping the Color.
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,