Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [91]
Orinoco. South American River, rising in Venezuela.
Orkney Islands, Scotland. Properly they can be called Orkney or the Orkney Islands, but not the Orkneys. A native or resident is an Orcadian.
Orly Airport, Paris.
orology. The study of mountains.
Ortega y Gasset, José. (1883–1955) Spanish philosopher.
orthoepy. The study of pronunciation. Curiously, there are two accepted pronunciations: or'-tho-ep-ee and or-tho'-ip-ee.
orthography. Correct or accepted spelling; the study of spelling.
orthopedics. The area of medicine concerned with bones and muscles.
Orwell, George. Pen name of the British writer Eric Blair (1903–1950).
oscillate.
oscilloscope.
OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Osiris. Egyptian god of the underworld.
Osservatore Romano, L’. Vatican newspaper.
Ostend. Belgian port; in Flemish, Oostende.
osteo-. Prefix meaning bone(s).
osteomyelitis. Infection in the bone or bone marrow.
Österreich. The name in German for Austria.
Oswiecim. The Polish name for Auschwitz, German concentration camp in Poland during World War II.
otolaryngology. The branch of medicine dealing with ear, nose, and throat disorders.
Ottawa, Ontario. Capital of Canada.
Otway, Thomas. (1652–1685) British playwright.
Ouachita (or Washita). River and mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Ouagadougou. Capital of Burkina Faso.
oubliette. Dungeon with access only through a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Oudenarde, Battle of. (1708.)
Ouija board. (Cap. O.)
“Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die” is often heard, but is wrong. The lines from Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” are “Their’s not to reason why,/Their’s but to do and die.” Note that the closing words “do and die” give the lines an entirely different sense from “do or die.” Finally, it should be noted that Tennyson’s punctuation of theirs is irregular (see POSSESSIVES).
outspokenness. Note -nn-.
ouzo. Greek drink.
over. The notion that over is incorrect for “more than” (as in “over 300 people were present at the rally”) is a widely held superstition. The stricture has been traced to Ambrose Bierce’s Write It Right (1909), a usage book teeming with quirky recommendations, many of which you will find repeated nowhere. There is no harm in preferring “more than,” but also no basis for insisting on it.
Overbeck, Johann Friedrich. (1769–1869) German painter.
Overijssel. Province of the Netherlands.
Overlord. Code name given to the Normandy invasion by Allied forces on D-Day in 1944.
overly. Making over into overly is a little like turning soon into soonly. Adding -ly does nothing for over that it could not already do.
overripe, overrule, overrun, etc. Note -rr-.
overweening. Arrogant or presumptuous expectations are overweening ones. There is no word overweaning.
Ovid, properly Publius Ovidius Naso. (43 BC–AD 17) Roman poet.
ovum, pl. ova.
Oxford Movement. A movement in the Church of England, begun at Oxford in 1833, seeking a return to certain Roman Catholic doctrines and practices.
Oxford University colleges. All Souls, Balliol, Brasenose, Christ Church, Corpus Christi, Exeter, Green, Hertford, Jesus, Keble, Lady Margaret Hall, Linacre, Lincoln, Magdalen, Merton, New College, Nuffield, Oriel, Pembroke, (The) Queen’s, St. Anne’s, St. Antony’s, St. Catherine’s, St. Cross, St. Edmund Hall, St. Hilda’s, St. Hugh’s, St. John’s, St. Peter’s, Somerville, Trinity, University, Wadham, Wolfson, Worcester.
Oxon. Oxonia (Lat.), Oxford or Oxfordshire; Oxoniensis (Lat.), of Oxford.
oxymoron. The intentional mingling of contradictory ideas or expressions for rhetorical effect, as in “getting nowhere fast.”
Ozawa, Seiji. (1935–) Japanese conductor.
“Ozymandias” for the sonnet by Shelley (1818). Not Oxy-.
Pp
pablum (or pabulum). Food; in figurative sense it is used to convey the idea of being weak or nutritiously insipid. When capitalized it is a trademark for a