Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [26]
ciao. (It.) Salutation meaning either hello or goodbye.
Ciba-Geigy. Swiss pharmaceuticals company.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius. (106–43 BC) Roman orator and statesman.
Ciechanover, Aaron. (1947–) Israeli scientist, awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry (2004).
Cimoszewicz, Wlodzimierz. (1950–) Prime minister of Poland (1996–1997).
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Cincinnatus, Lucius Quintus. (c. 519–c. 439 BC) Roman general.
Cinderella.
CinemaScope. Wide-screen film system.
cinéma vérité.
cineraria. Type of flower; pl. cinerarias.
cinnamon.
cinquecento. (It.) Literally “the five hundreds” Italian name for the sixteenth century.
Cinque Ports, England; pronounced sink.
cipher. Not cypher.
circadian. Taking place in twenty-four-hour cycles.
Circe. In Greek mythology, an enchantress on the island of Aeaea who detained Odysseus and his men, turning the latter into swine and bearing a son by the former.
circumstances, in the and under the. A useful distinction can be drawn between the two. In the circumstances should indicate merely that a situation exists: “In the circumstances, I began to feel worried.” Under the circumstances should denote a situation in which action is necessitated or inhibited: “Under the circumstances, I had no choice but to leave.”
cirrhosis.
Citigroup Inc., the financial services corporation, has a habit of dazzling inconsistency with regard to capitalization and spacing when naming subsidiaries. Among its offshoots are Citibank, Citi Cards, CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage, and Citi Private Bank. Take care.
Citizens Bank Park. Philadelphia baseball stadium, home of the Phillies.
Citlatépetl. Dormant Mexican volcano.
C. Itoh. Japanese trading company.
Citroën. French automobile.
city names. Where cities have the same name as surrounding territory, it is normal to capitalize City even when it is not formally part of the place name. Thus, New York City, Mexico City, Luxembourg City, Quebec City.
Ciudad Trujillo. Former name of Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.
Civitavecchia. Italian coastal city, north of Rome in Latium.
Clare, County, Ireland.
Claridge’s Hotel, London, but Hôtel Claridge, Paris.
clarinetist.
Clarke, Arthur C(harles). (1917–) English science-fiction writer.
Clemenceau, Georges (Eugène Benjamin). (1841–1929) Prime minister of France (1906–1909, 1917–1920).
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne. (1835–1910) American author better known by his pen name, Mark Twain.
clerestory. A windowed wall, usually in a church.
clerihew. Four-line nonsense poem devised by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956).
climactic, climatic, climacteric. Climactic means appearing at a climax (“the climactic scene in a movie”); climatic means having to do with climate and weather (“the climatic conditions of the Brazilian rainforest”); climacteric is a noun signifying a time of important change and is most commonly applied to menopause.
cloisonné. A type of enamel work.
close proximity is inescapably tautological. Make it “near” or “close to.” See also SCRUTINY, SCRUTINIZE.
Clouseau, Inspector. Fictional character mostly portrayed by Peter Sellers in Pink Panther films.
Clwyd. County of northern Wales; pronounced kloo'-wid.
Clytemnestra. In Greek mythology, the wife of Agamemnon.
cnidarians. Members of the phylum of marine invertebrates that includes jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones. Also called coelenterates.
Cnossos/Cnossus. Alternative spellings for ancient capital of Crete; usually spelled Knossos in American usage.
Coahuila. State in northeastern Mexico.
Cobb, Irvin S(hrewsbury). (1876–1944) American journalist and humorist.
Cobh, County Cork, Ireland; pronounced cove.
COBOL. Common Business Oriented Language, an early computer programming language.
Coca-Cola. (Hyphen.) The diminutive term Coke should always be capitalized.
coccyx. Tailbone; pl. coccyxes.
cock-a-leekie soup.
cockney. (No cap.) A native of London’s East End; pl. cockneys.
coconut. But the Marx Brothers Broadway show and movie is The Cocoanuts.
cocoon.
coelacanth for the ocean fish famed in scientific