Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [88]
Nouakchott. Capital of Mauritania.
n’oubliez pas. (Fr.) “Don’t forget.”
noughts and crosses. British name for tic-tac-toe.
nouveau riche. (Fr.) Mildly disparaging description of someone whose wealth is recently acquired; pl. nouveaux riches.
Novocaine. (Cap.)
Novosibirsk, Russia.
NOW. National Organization for (not of ) Women.
nowadays.
NTSB. National Transportation Safety Board.
NTT DoCoMo. Japanese telecommunications company.
Nuits-Saint-Georges. French wine.
Nuku’alofa/Nukualofa. Capital of Tonga.
Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia. Often misspelled Nullabor.
number. Used with the definite article, number always takes a singular verb (“The number of people in the world is rising”); used with an indefinite article it always takes a plural verb (“A number of people are unhappy”).
numismatics. The study or collection of coins or medals.
numskull, not numbskull, is the preferred spelling for most, but not all, authorities.
Nunavut. Canadian territory created in 1999.
Nunivak. Second-largest Alaskan island (after Kodiak).
Nuremberg (in German, Nürnberg) for the Bavarian city. Not -burg.
Nureyev, Rudolf. (1938–1993) Russian ballet dancer.
Nuuk. Capital of Greenland; formerly Godthaab.
Nyasaland. Former name of Malawi.
Nyerere, Julius (Kambarage). (1922–1999) President of Tanganyika and (after its union with Zanzibar) of Tanzania (1961–1985).
Nymphenburg Palace, Munich; in German, Schloss Nymphenburg.
Oo
O, oh, oho. The first normally appears in literary or religious contexts; it is always capitalized and never followed by punctuation. The second is used in more general contexts to denote emotions ranging from a small sigh to an outcry; it is capitalized only at the start of sentences and normally followed by either a comma or exclamation mark. Oho, with or without an exclamation mark, denotes an expression of surprise.
OAS. Organization of American States.
OAU. Organization of African Unity.
Oaxaca. City and state in southern Mexico.
Obadiah. Old Testament prophet.
Obama, Barack. (1961–) Democratic politician, U.S. senator from Illinois (2005–); full name Barack Hussein Obama.
Obasanjo, Olusegun. (1937–) President of Nigeria (1999–2007).
obbligato. In music, an indispensable part.
obeisance. A show of deference.
Oberammergau. Village in Bavaria, Germany, where celebrated passion play is performed every ten years.
obiter dictum. (Lat.) A remark made in passing; pl. obiter dicta.
objet d’art, pl. objets d’art.
objet trouvé. (Fr.) “A found object.”
oblivious. Many authorities long maintained that oblivious can mean only forgetful. You cannot properly be oblivious of something that you were not in the first place aware of. But in its broader sense of merely being unaware or impervious, oblivious is now accepted universally.
oblique.
obloquy. Verbal abuse; pl. obloquies.
O’Brien, Flann. Pen name of Brian O’Nolan (1911–1966), Irish writer, who also wrote a column in the Irish Times under the pseudonym Myles na Gopaleen.
obscurum per obscurius. (Lat.) “The obscure by means of the more obscure.”
obsidian. Glassy volcanic rock.
obsolete, obsolescent. Things that are no longer used or needed are obsolete. Things that are becoming obsolete are obsolescent.
obstetrics, obstetrician.
obstreperous. Noisy, vociferous.
obtuse angle. One between 90 and 180 degrees.
obviate does not mean reduce or make more acceptable, as is often thought: “A total redesign of the system should obviate complaints about its reliability” (London Times). It means to make unnecessary.
Occam’s/Ockham’s razor. Paring all presumptions to the minimum, a principle attributed to the English philosopher William of Occam, or Ockham (c. 1285–c. 1349).
occult.
occur, take place. Take place is better reserved for scheduled events. When what is being described is accidental, occur is the better word.
ocher.
ochlocracy. Government by mob rule.
octet.
octocentennial. Eight-hundredth anniversary.
octogenarian. Person from eighty to eighty-nine years old.
octopus, pl. octopuses (or, in technical writing,