Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [25]
Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and Virginia.
Chesebrough-Pond’s. U.S. cosmetics and household products company.
Cheviot Hills, England and Scotland.
ChevronTexaco. (One word.) Oil company.
Chevy. Diminutive form of Chevrolet.
Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Cheyenne. North American Indian people, river, and capital of Wyoming.
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, India; note Chh-.
Chiang Kai-shek. (1887–1975) Leader of Nationalist Republic of China (1928–1949) and first president of Taiwan (1950–1975).
chiaroscuro. Interplay of light and shade.
Chicano, pl. Chicanos.
Chichén Itzá. Mexican ruins.
Chickamauga, Georgia; not -magua. Site of Civil War battle (1863).
chickenpox. (One word.)
chicory. Herb.
Chihuahua. City and state in Mexico and breed of dog.
chilblain. Not chill-.
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Not Child. Poem by Lord Byron.
children’s is the only possible spelling of the possessive form of children.
chili, pl. chilies.
chimera. A wild or fanciful creation, taken from Chimera (sometimes Chimaera), a mythological beast with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent.
China, Republic of. Official name of Taiwan, used almost nowhere except in Taiwan itself. The mainland country is the People’s Republic of China.
chinchilla.
Chincoteague for bay, island, and town in Virginia or Maryland.
Chinese names. The system now used almost everywhere for transliterating Chinese names into English is Pinyin (which means transcription). This has occasioned many striking changes in the rendering of Chinese names: Mao Tse-tung is now Mao Zedong; Peking is now Beijing. In some cases, particularly where long-established names are concerned, older forms continue to be used—Confucius, Hong Kong, Shanghai—but even many of these are slowly changing. If uncertain, or where confusion is likely, it is a courtesy to give both names: “Chang Jiang River, formerly known as the Yangtze.”
Chingachgook. Character in James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Deerslayer (1841).
chinook. Warm, dry wind that blows off the Rocky Mountains.
chipmunk. Not -monk.
Chippendale, Thomas. (c. 1718–1779) English furniture designer and manufacturer.
Chiinu. Capital of Moldova.
chitterlings is the formal name of the dish made from pig’s intestines, but it is often more informally spelled chitlins.
chivvy. To hurry or harass.
chlorophyll.
chockfull (or chock-full). But the brand of coffee and restaurants is Chock full o’Nuts.
chocolate.
Choctaw. Native American group.
cholesterol.
Chomsky, Noam. (1928–) American linguist.
Chongqing. City in Sichuan Province, China; formerly referred to as Chungking.
Chopin, Frédéric François. (1810–1849) Polish composer.
chord, cord. A chord is a group of musical notes or a type of arc in geometry; a cord is a length of rope or similar material of twisted strands, or a stack of wood. You speak with your vocal cords.
Chou En-lai. (1898–1976) Prime minister of China (1949–1976). The name is now usually spelled Zhou Enlai.
Christ Church, Christchurch. Christ Church is the spelling and full name of the Oxford college (i.e., not Christ Church College). The communities in New Zealand and England are Christchurch.
Christiania. Former name of Oslo.
Christie’s. London auction house; formally Christie, Manson & Woods, but the parent company styles itself Christies International (no apos.).
Christ’s College, Cambridge University.
Christy Minstrels.
chromosome.
chronic, acute. Chronic means constant or long-standing; acute (when applied to an illness or a situation) means approaching a crisis.
chrysalis. The formal plural, and the one to use in scientific contexts, is chrysalides, but chrysalises is acceptable for more general writing.
chrysanthemum.
chukker. Period of play in polo.
Church of Christ, Scientist (with comma) is the formal name of the Christian Science church.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Formal title of the Mormon Church.
Churchs Ferry (no. apos.), North Dakota.
chutzpah. (Yid.) Shameless impudence, brashness.
Chuvashiya.