Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [54]
Greuze, Jean-Baptiste. (1725–1805) French painter.
Grey, Lady Jane. (1537–1554) Queen of England for ten days in 1553.
Grey, Zane. (1875–1939) American author.
Grey Friars for the Franciscan monks, but Greyfriars College, Oxford University.
greyhound.
Greylock, Mount. Massachusetts mountain.
Grieg, Edvard. (1843–1907) Norwegian composer.
grievous. Not -ious.
griffin is the usual spelling for a creature with an eagle’s head and wings and a lion’s body, but most dictionaries also accept gryphon.
Griffith-Joyner, Florence. (1959–1998) American sprinter.
grille is the usual spelling for the front part of a car or other metal grating, though grill is also acceptable.
Grimm, Brothers. Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786–1859), German writers and philologists.
grisly, gristly, grizzly. Occasionally and variously confused. The first means horrifying or gruesome. The second applies to meat that is full of gristle. The third means gray, especially gray-haired, and is a cliché when applied to old men.
Grisons, Graubünden are respectively the French and German names for a single Swiss canton.
grosbeak. Species of finch.
groschen. Former Austrian coin.
gros rouge. (Fr.) Ordinary red table wine.
gross domestic product, gross national product. Gross domestic product is everything produced by a nation during a given period except earnings from overseas. Gross national product is everything produced by a nation during a given period including earnings from overseas. In most contexts, the reader is entitled to an explanation of the difference.
Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
Grosz, George. (1893–1959) German-born American artist.
Grósz, Karoly. (1930–1996) Prime minister of Hungary (1987–1988).
grotto, pl. grottoes.
Group of Eight, or G8. Leading industrial nations that meet regularly to discuss economic and trading issues. They are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Grudzielanek, Mark. (1970–) American baseball player.
grueling.
gruesome.
Gruner + Jahr. German magazine publisher, part of Bertelsmann. Note the use of a plus sign instead of an ampersand.
gruyère cheese. But the Swiss town from which it takes its name is Gruyères.
GT. Gran Turismo.
Guadalajara. Cities in Spain and Mexico.
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; site of ferocious fighting in World War II.
Guadalupe, Guadeloupe. The cluster of islands in the Caribbean, which together form an overseas department of France, is Guadeloupe. Most other geographical features bearing the name, including a river and range of mountains in the southwestern United States, and towns or cities in California, Spain, Peru, and the Azores, spell it Guadalupe.
Guadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of. 1848 treaty in which Mexico ceded to the United States what would become the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah.
Guangdong, Guangzhou. Guangdong is the Chinese province formerly known as Kwantung. Its capital is Guangzhou, formerly Canton.
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, site of U.S. naval base.
Guaragigna. African language.
guarantee, guaranty. Guarantee is generally used for the verb (“I guarantee a positive result”) and guaranty for the noun (“The TV is still under guaranty”), but most dictionaries allow a wide overlap of definitions. If in doubt, use guarantee.
Guatemala. Central American country; capital Guatemala City.
Guayaquil, Santiago de. Largest city in Ecuador.
Guernica. Spanish town near Bilbao, ancient capital of the Basques; its bombing by German aircraft in April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War was the subject of a celebrated painting by Picasso. The town’s full, formal name is Guernica y Luno, but this is seldom used and not necessary in most contexts.
guerrilla.
guesstimate is much overused and generally unnecessary in serious writing; all estimates are fundamentally guesses.
gueuze. Type of Belgian beer.
Guggenheim. The New York museum is formally the Solomon R. Guggenheim