Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [14]
Beograd. Serbian for Belgrade.
Beowulf. Not -wolf. Anglo-Saxon epic.
Berchtesgaden. Not -garden. Bavarian tourist center where Hitler had a country retreat.
bereft. To be bereft of something is not to lack it but to be dispossessed of it, to lose it. A spinster is not bereft of a husband, but a widow is. (The word is the past participle of bereave.)
Bérégovoy, Pierre. (1925-1993) Prime minister of France (1992-1993).
Berenson, Bernard (or Bernhard). (1865-1959) Lithuanian-born American art critic.
Beretta. Italian manufacturer of handguns.
Bergdorf Goodman. New York department store.
Berkeleian. Of or from the philosophy of George Berkeley (1685–1753).
Berkeley, California, and Berkeley Square, London. The latter is pronounced bark-lee.
Berkeley, Busby. (1895-1976) Hollywood choreographer.
berkelium. Chemical element.
Berklee Performance Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
Bermudan. Not -ian.
Bern is the normal English spelling for the capital of Switzerland, though Berne is also accepted.
Bernabéu Stadium. In Madrid (formally Santiago Bernabéu Stadium), home of Real Madrid.
Bernanke, Ben. (1953–) American economist, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (2006–).
Bernhardt, Sarah. (1844-1923) French actress, called “the Divine Sarah” born Henriette-Rosine Bernard.
Bernini, (Giovanni) Lorenzo. (1598-1680) Italian sculptor and architect.
Bertelsmann. German media group.
Bertolucci, Bernardo. (1940–) Italian film director.
beryllium. Chemical element.
beseech.
besides means “also” or “in addition to,” not “alternatively.” Partridge cites this incorrect use: “The wound must have been made by something besides the handle of the gear-level.” Make it “other than.”
besiege. Not -ei-.
Bessarabia. Former name of Moldova.
Bessemer process. Steelmaking method named after Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-1898), British metallurgist.
bestseller, bestsellerdom (one word), but best-selling (hyphen).
Betelgeuse. Star in Orion constellation.
bête noire. (Fr.) Something much disliked; pl. bêtes noires.
Bettelheim, Bruno. (1903-1990) Austrian-born American child psychologist.
bettor for one who bets.
between, among. A few authorities continue to insist that between applies to two things only and among to more than two, so that we should speak of dividing some money between the two of us but among the four of us. That is useful advice as far as it goes, but it doesn’t always go very far. It would be absurd, for instance, to say that Chicago is among New York, Los Angeles, and Houston. More logically, between should be applied to reciprocal arrangements (a treaty between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada) and among to collective arrangements (trade talks among the members of the European Union).
between you and I is always wrong. Make it “between you and me.” The object of a preposition should always be in the accusative. More simply, we don’t say “between you and I” for the same reason that we don’t say “give that book to I.”
Bevan, Aneurin (1897-1960), but Ernest Bevin (1881-1951) for the British politicians.
Bhagavadgita. Sacred Hindu text, part of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.
Bhumibol (Adulyadej). (1927–) King of Thailand (1946–).
Bhutan. Asian kingdom; capital Thimphu. Natives are Bhutanese (sing. and pl.).
biannual, biennial. Biannual means twice a year; biennial means every two years.
biased.
biathlon for the sport in which competitors ski across country and shoot set targets.
Bible (cap.), but biblical (no cap.).
Big Ben, strictly speaking, is not the famous clock on the Houses of Parliament in London, but just the great hour bell, so a passing visitor will hear Big Ben but never see it. The formal name of the clock, for what it is worth, is the clock on St. Stephen’s Tower on the Palace of Westminster.
bildungsroman. (Ger.) Novel dealing with a character’s early life and psychological development.
Biletnikoff,