Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [55]
Guiana, Guyana. Some scope for confusion here, particularly if using old references. The name Guiana has at various times been attached to three contiguous territories on the Atlantic coast of northern South America. The westernmost, British Guiana, is now called Guyana. The central territory, Dutch Guiana, is now Suriname. The easternmost, an overseas department of France, remains French Guiana.
guillemet, guillemot. The first is the word for the chevron-like quotation marks [ « » ] used primarily in French and Spanish; pronounced gee-yuh-meh'. Not to be confused with the type of seabird known as a guillemot, pronounced gill'-a-mot.
guillotine.
guinea. (Not cap.) In Britain, a sum equivalent to one pound and one shilling or a coin of that value; no longer used.
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea. They are separate countries, all in West Africa. Guinea was formerly French Guinea. Guinea-Bissau was formerly Portuguese Guinea. Equatorial Guinea was formerly Spanish Guinea.
Guinevere. Wife of King Arthur.
Guinness stout, Sir Alec Guinness (1914–2000), Guinness Book of World Records, etc.
Guizhou. Chinese province; formerly spelled Kweichow.
Gujurat. Indian state; capital Gandhinagar.
gunny sack.
Gunpowder Plot. Conspiracy among a group of English Catholics to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.
gunwale. Not -whale. The topmost edge of the side of a ship; pronounced gunnel and sometimes so spelled.
Guomindang. Chinese Nationalist Party, founded by Sun Yat-sen; formerly spelled Kuomintang. The syllable-dang contains the notion of party, so refer only to the Guomindang, not Guomindang Party.
Gurkha. (Cap.) Nepalese soldier in the British army.
guten Abend, but gute Nacht. German for “good evening” and “good night.” (The daytime salutations are guten Morgen for “good morning” and guten Tag for “good day.”)
Gutenberg, Johann. (c. 1400–1468) Born Johannes Gensfleisch; German credited with the invention of movable type.
Gutiérrez, Luis Vicente. (1953–) Democratic politician, U.S. representative from Illinois.
gutta-percha. Hard, rubbery substance produced from the latex of various tropical trees.
guttural. Not -er-.
Guyana. Formerly British Guiana. South American country; capital Georgetown.
Gwynedd. County of Wales; pronounced gwin'-neth.
Gwynn, Nell. (1605–1687) Born Eleanor Gwynne; actress and mistress of Charles II of England.
gynecology.
gypsy, pl. gypsies.
Hh
ha. is the abbreviation of hectare.
Häagen-Dazs. Ice cream.
Haakon VII. (1872–1957) King of Norway (1905–1957).
Haarlem, Netherlands, but Harlem, New York.
Haas, Ernst. (1921–1986) Austrian-born photographer.
Haas-Lilienthal House, San Francisco.
habeas corpus. (Lat.) “Deliver the body” writ requiring that a person be brought before a court. Its purpose is to ensure that prisoners are not unlawfully detained.
habits. Take care not to write of someone’s “customary habits” or “usual habits” and the like. Habits are always customary and always usual. That is, of course, what makes them habitual.
habitué (masc.), habituée (fem.).
Habsburg. Use Hapsburg.
Hadid, Zaha. (1950–) Iraqi-born British architect.
Haeckel, Ernst. (1834–1919) German naturalist.
Hågatña. Capital of Guam; formerly Agana.
Haggai. (fl. sixth c. BC) Hebrew prophet; also the book of his prophecies in the Old Testament.
haggis. Scottish dish.
Hague, The. (Cap. T.) In Dutch, Den Haag or ’s Gravenhage; seat of government of the Netherlands (though Amsterdam is the capital).
hail, hale. Hale means robust and vigorous, or to drag or forcibly draw (as in “haled into court”), in which sense it is related to haul. Hail describes a greeting, a salute, or a downpour (as in “hailstorm” or “hail of bullets”). The expressions are hale and hearty and hail-fellow-well-met.
Haile Selassie. (1892–1975) Emperor of Ethiopia (1930–1936, 1941–1974).
Hainault. District of London.
hair’s breadth, hairbreadth. Either is fine.
hajj. A pilgrimage to Mecca; one who has made the pilgrimage