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affettuoso. In music, to play with feeling.

affidavit.

affinity denotes a mutual relationship. Strictly, one should not speak of someone or something having an affinity for another, but rather with or between.

affrettando. In music, speeding up.

affright. Note -ff-.

aficionado, pl. aficionados.

AFL-CIO. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

à fond. (Fr.) Thoroughly.

a fortiori. (Lat.) With even stronger reason, all the more so.

Afrikaans, Afrikaners. The first is a language; the second a group of people.

Afwerki, Issaias (or Isaias). (1946–) President of Eritrea.

Ag. Chemical symbol for silver.

AG. Aktiengesellschaft (Ger.) Roughly equivalent to Inc.

Agamemnon. In Greek mythology, king of Argos and commander of the Greek army in the Trojan War; also (in italics) the title of a play by Aeschylus, the first part of the Oresteia trilogy.

Agassiz (Jean) Louis (Rodolphe). (1807-1873) Swiss-born American naturalist.

à gauche. (Fr.) To the left.

agent provocateur, pl. agents provocateurs.

aggravate. Strictly, means to make a bad situation worse. If you walk on a broken leg, you may aggravate the injury. People can never be aggravated, only circumstances.

aggression, aggressiveness. Aggression always denotes hostility. Aggressiveness can denote hostility or merely boldness.

aggrieve.

Agincourt, Battle of. 1415.

agoraphobia. Fear of open spaces.

Agra, India, site of Taj Mahal.

agreeable.

Aguascalientes. City and state in central Mexico.

Aguilera, Christina. (1980–) American singer.

Agusta. Not Aug-. Italian helicopter company; formally, Gruppo Agusta.

Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud. (1956–) President of Iran (2005–).

à huis clos. (Fr.) “Behind closed doors.”

Ah, Wilderness! Comedic play by Eugene O’Neill (1933).

aid and abet. A tautological gift from the legal profession. The two words together tell us nothing that either doesn’t say on its own. The only distinction is that abet is normally reserved for contexts involving criminal intent. Thus it would be careless to speak of a benefactor abetting the construction of a church or youth club.

aide-de-camp, pl. aides-de-camp.

aide-mémoire, pl. same.

AIDS is not correctly described as a disease. It is a medical condition. The term is short for acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

aiguillette. Ornamental braid worn on the shoulder of a uniform.

Airbus Industrie. European aircraft manufacturer, now called Airbus SAS; it is a subsidiary of EADS NV.

Air France–KLM. Franco-Dutch airline formed from merger of two national carriers in 2004.

Air Line Pilots Association. Group that looks after the interests of American commercial pilots.

AirTran Airways.

Aix-en-Provence, France. Note hyphens.

Aix-la-Chapelle. (Hyphens.) French name for Aachen, Germany.

Aix-les-Bains, France. Note hyphens.

Ajaccio. Capital of Corsica and birthplace of Napoleon.

AK is the postal abbreviation of Alaska.

AL is the postal abbreviation of Alabama.

Ala. is the traditional abbreviation of Alabama.

à la. The adjectival forms of proper nouns in French do not take capital letters after à la: à la française, à la russe, à la lyonnaise.

alabaster.

Aladdin.

Alamein, El/Al. Egyptian village that gave its name to two battles of World War II.

Alamogordo, New Mexico, site of first atomic bomb explosion.

À la recherche du temps perdu. Novel by Marcel Proust, published in English as Remembrance of Things Past.

“Alas! poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio” is the correct version of the quotation from Hamlet.

Alaska Airlines. Not Alaskan.

Albigenses, Albigensians. Religious sect during eleventh to thirteenth centuries, also known as Cathars.

Albright, Madeleine. (1937–) Czech-born American diplomat and academic.

albumen, albumin. Albumen is the white of an egg; albumin is a protein within the albumen.

Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Alcaeus. (c. 600 BC) Greek poet.

Alcatraz. Island and former prison in San Francisco Bay.

Alcibiades. (c. 450–404 BC) Athenian statesman and general.

Alcott,