Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [46]
filament.
filet, fillet. Use the first when the phrase or context is distinctly French (filet mignon), but otherwise use fillet.
filial.
filibuster.
filigree.
Filipino (masc.) /Filipina (fem.). A native of the Philippines.
fille de joie. (Fr.) A prostitute.
Fillmore, Millard. (1800–1874) Thirteenth U.S. president (1850–1853).
finagle. To secure by cajoling; to use trickery.
finalize is still objected to by many as an ungainly and unnecessary word, and there is no arguing that several other verbs—finish, complete, conclude—do the job as well without raising hackles.
fin de siècle. (Fr.) “End of the century” normally applied to the end of the nineteenth century.
Fine Gael. Irish political party; pronounced feen gayle.
finial. Ornament on the pinnacle of a roof or similar.
finical, finicky. Both mean fussy, overprecise.
Finisterre, Cape. Westernmost point of Spanish mainland.
Finnegans Wake. (No apos.) Novel by James Joyce (1939).
fiord, fjord. Either is correct.
Firenze. The Italian for Florence.
first and foremost. Choose one.
first come first served. (No comma.)
first floor. Depending on context, it may be pertinent to remember that in Britain and elsewhere in the English-speaking world, the first floor is not the ground floor but the floor above it.
First Man in the Moon, The. H. G. Wells novel (1901); note in, not on.
Fischer, Bobby. (1943–2008) American chess player; world champion (1972–1975).
Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich. (1925–) German baritone.
fish, fishes. Either is correct as a plural.
Fishburne, Laurence. (1961–) American actor.
Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco. Not -men’s.
fission, fusion. In physics, ways of producing nuclear energy: fission by splitting the nucleus of an atom, fusion by fusing two light nuclei into a single, heavier nucleus.
fisticuffs.
Fittipaldi, Emerson. (1946–) Brazilian racing car driver.
FitzGerald, Edward. (1809–1883) English scholar and poet, translator of Omar Khayyám’s Rubáiyát.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England.
Fiumicino Airport, Rome. Formally it is Aeroporto Intercontinentale Leonardo da Vinci, but it is more commonly known by the name of its locality.
fjord, fiord. Either is correct.
fl. Floruit (Lat.), meaning “flourished” used to indicate the productive period of a person (“fl. second century BC”) for whom more specific dates are lacking.
flack, flak. The first is a slightly pejorative term for a publicist. The second, a contraction of the German Fliegerabwehrkanonen, is antiaircraft fire and by extension criticism or abuse.
flagon. A drinking vessel.
flair, flare. Flair is a knack for doing something well; flare describes a burst of flame or other phenomenon involving light.
flak. See FLACK, FLAK.
flaky.
flamingoes.
flammable, inflammable. Inflammable means capable of burning but has so often been taken to mean the opposite that most authorities now suggest it be avoided. It is generally better to use flammable for materials that will burn and nonflammable for those that will not.
flaunt, flout. To flaunt means to display ostentatiously, to show off. To flout means to treat with contempt, to disregard in a smug manner.
flautist. Person who plays a flute.
Fledermaus, Die. Operetta by Johann Strauss the Younger (1874).
Fleming. A native of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium; the adjective is Flemish.
Fleming, Sir Alexander. (1881–1955) British bacteriologist, discoverer of penicillin; shared Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945.
fleugelhorn (or flügelhorn). Brass musical instrument.
fleur-de-lis, pl. fleurs-de-lis.
flexible.
flibbertigibbet. A scatterbrain.
floccinaucinihilipilification. The act of estimating as worthless; sometimes cited as the longest word in English.
flora, fauna. The first means plants, the second animals.
florescent, fluorescent. The first means in flower, the second radiating light.
floruit. (Lat.) Abbr. fl.; “flourished” used when the exact dates lived are not known. E.g., “Caedmon (fl. seventh c.).”
flotsam and jetsam. Jetsam is that part of a shipwreck that has been thrown