Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [89]
oculist.
Oder-Neisse Line. Boundary between Germany and Poland.
Odets, Clifford. (1906–1963) American playwright.
odometer. Device for measuring distance traveled.
odoriferous.
Od’s bodkins. Archaic oath, probably a corruption of “by God’s body.”
Odysseus (Greek)/Ulysses (Lat.). In Greek mythology, the king of Ithaca.
OECD. Organization for (not of) Economic Cooperation and Development. The members are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.
Oedipus complex. Term coined by Freud to describe a child’s (usually a son’s) feelings of love for the parent of the opposite sex mingled with dislike for the parent of the same sex.
oenology/enology. Study of wines. A connoisseur is an oenophile.
oeuvre. An artist’s body of work.
O’Faoláin, Seán. (1900–1991) Irish novelist and short story writer.
Offaly. County in Republic of Ireland.
Offa’s Dike/Dyke. Eighth-century earthwork between England and Wales.
Offenbach, Jacques. (1819–1880) German-born French composer; born Jakob Eberst.
off of is redundant. Write “Get off the table,” not “Get off of the table.”
Ogdon, John. (Andrew Howard) (1937–1989) British pianist.
ogre.
Oh, Oho. See O, OH, OHO.
O’Hare International Airport, Chicago.
O. Henry. Pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), American short story writer. The candy bar is Oh Henry.
Oireachtas for the Irish legislature, consisting of the president and the two assemblies, the Dáil Éireann and Seanad. It is pronounced ur'-akh-tus.
Ojos del Salado. Andean mountain on Chilean-Argentinian border; second-highest peak in the Western Hemisphere (22,600 feet; 6,910 meters).
Okeechobee. Lake and inland waterway, Florida.
O’Keeffe, Georgia. (1887–1986) American artist.
Okefenokee Swamp. Florida and Georgia.
Okhotsk, Sea of.
Olajuwon, Hakeem. (1963–) Nigerian-born American basketball player.
Olazábal, José María. (1966–) Spanish golfer.
Oldenburg, Claes. (1929–) Swedish-born American sculptor.
Old Peculier. An English beer.
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
Olivetti. Formally Ing. C. Olivetti & Co. SpA, Italian industrial group, once famous for typewriters.
Olmert, Ehud. (1945–) Prime minister of Israel (2006–).
Olympic-size swimming pool. An official Olympics swimming pool is fifty meters long. Almost no one owns a private pool that large, so the description in respect to private pools is almost always a gross exaggeration.
Omar Khayyám is the correct spelling of the Persian poet and mathematician. Note -yy-.
omelet/omelette. Either is correct.
omit, omitted, omitting, omissible.
omnipotent, omniscient. The first means all-powerful, the second all-knowing.
on, upon. Although some journalists think there is, or ought to be, a distinction between these two, there isn’t. The choice is sometimes dictated by idiom (“on no account,” “upon my soul”), but in all other instances it is a matter of preference.
one can be a grammatically tricky word. It takes a singular verb in straightforward constructions like “one out of every seven men is bald.” But when extra words are attached to it—one or more, one of those—it ceases to govern the verb and the sense of the sentence becomes plural. Thus the sentence “Inside each folder is one or more sheets of information” should be “are one or more” and “Nott is one of those rare politicians who doesn’t mind what he says” should be “don’t mind what they say.” A helpful trick to determine whether a singular or plural verb is needed is to invert the word order of the sentence: “Of those politicians who do not mind what they say, Nott is one.”
O’Neal, Shaquille. (1972–) American basketball player.
one or more is plural. For a discussion, see ONE.
only. In general, only ought to be attached to the word or phrase it is modifying and not set adrift, as here: “The A Class bus only ran on Sundays” (Observer).