Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [48]
fortissimo, fortississimo. The first (abbr. ff.) means very loud; the second (abbr. fff.) means as loud as possible.
Fort-Lamy. Former name of N’djamena, capital of Chad.
Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina, site of first action in the Civil War.
fortuitous means by chance; it is not a synonym for fortunate. A fortuitous event may be fortunate, but equally it may not.
forty-niner. (No cap.) Participant in the 1849 California gold rush. The San Francisco football team is the 49ers (no apos.).
For Whom the Bell Tolls. Not Bells Toll. Novel by Ernest Hemingway (1940).
Foucault pendulum. For the device (pronounced foo-ko), but Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) for the novel by Umberto Eco.
founder, flounder. Founder means to sink, break down, or fail; flounder means only to struggle. A drowning person flounders; ships founder.
foundry. Not -ery.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent Conquest, Slaughter, Famine, and Death.
fourth estate. In Britain, the press. The other three estates are the Lords, the Commons, and the Church of England.
Fowler’s. Common name for A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler.
Foxe, John. (1516–1587) English clergyman, most remembered for the book commonly known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs; not to be confused with George Fox (1624–1691), founder of the Society of Friends, or Quakers.
fraction. A few authorities continue to maintain that fraction in the sense of a small part is ambiguous: 99/100 is also a fraction but hardly a negligible part. The looser usage, however, has been around for at least three hundred years. Even so, it would be more precise to say “a small part” or “a tiny part.” (See also PERCENT, PERCENTAGE POINT.)
fractious. Disorderly.
France is divided into the following twenty-two regions (English version in parentheses where appropriate): Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bretagne (Brittany), Bourgogne (Burgundy), Centre, Champagne-Ardennes, Corse (Corsica), Franche-Comté, Haute-Normandie, Île-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrénées, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays-de-la-Loire, Picardie (Picardy), Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Rhône-Alpes.
Franche-Comté. Region of France.
Francis of Assisi, St. (1182–1226) Born Giovanni Francesco Bernardone; founder of Franciscan order of monks.
Frankenstein. The full title of the novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) is Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). Frankenstein is the scientist, not the monster.
Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, is not to be confused with Frankfurt an der Oder, eastern Germany, on the border with Poland. The towns in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and several other U.S. states are all Frankfort.
Frankfurter, Felix. (1882–1965) American jurist.
Franz Josef Land. Archipelago in the Barents Sea.
frappé. (Fr.) Iced, artificially chilled.
Frau. (Ger.) Married woman, pl. Frauen.
Fräulein. (Ger.) Sing. and pl., unmarried woman/women.
Frayn, Michael. (1933–) English writer.
Frazer-Nash. Not Fraser-. British sports car.
Freddie Mac. Nickname of U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. See also FANNIE MAE/FANNIE MAY.
Fredericksburg, Virginia; site of battle in Civil War.
Fredericton. Capital of New Brunswick, Canada.
Frederiksberg. Suburb of Copenhagen.
freesia. Flowering plant.
Freiburg (im Breisgau) for the ancient university town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, but Freiberg for its near namesake in Saxony.
Frelinghuysen, Rodney. (1946–) U.S. representative from New Jersey, one in a long line of politicians of that name in New Jersey.
Fremantle, Western Australia.
French Guiana. An overseas region of France on the South American mainland; capital Cayenne.
Frenchman Flat, Nevada; site of atomic bomb tests in 1950s.
French Somaliland. Former name of Djibouti.
fresh. Usually the word serves as an unobjectionable synonym for new, but it has additional connotations that make it inappropriate in some contexts, as the following vividly demonstrates: “Three weeks