Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [98]
poltergeist.
Poltoratsk. Former name of Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan.
polyandry. State or practice of a woman having more than one husband at the same time.
polygamy. State or practice of a man having more than one wife at the same time.
polypropylene. Type of plastic.
pomegranate. Round fruit with many seeds.
Pomeranian. A toy breed of dog.
Pompeian. Of Pompeii, the Roman city destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79.
Pompey. (106–48 BC) Properly Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus; Roman soldier and statesman.
Pompidou Center, Paris. Formally Le Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou; also called Centre Beaubourg.
pompon. Not -pom. A ball or tuft of material.
Ponce de León, Juan. (1460–1521) Spanish explorer, discovered Florida.
Pontchartrain, Lake, Louisiana.
Ponte Vecchio. Famous bridge over the Arno, Florence, Italy.
Pont l’Évêque. French town and type of cheese named after it.
pooh-bah. Person who holds many offices at once, from the character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.
pooh-pooh. To dismiss or make light of.
Popescu-Tăriceanu, Călin. (1952–) Prime minister of Romania (2004–).
poppadam (or poppadom). Indian thin, crisp, fried bread.
populace, populous. The first describes a general population. The second means heavily populated.
porcupine.
pore, pour. Occasionally pour appears where pore is intended. As a verb, pore means to examine carefully (“He pored over the documents”) or, more rarely, to meditate. Pour indicates a flow, either literally (“He poured the water down the drain”) or figuratively (“The rioters poured through the streets”).
port, starboard. When facing forward on a ship, port is to the left, starboard to the right.
Port-au-Prince. (Hyphens.) Capital of Haiti.
portentous. Not -ious.
portico. A porch supported by pillars; pl. porticoes/porticos.
portland cement. (Not cap.)
portmanteau word. A word blending two others, e.g., smog = smoke + fog.
Portmeirion, Wales. Fanciful Italianate village built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, and a brand of pottery that originated there.
Port Moresby. Capital of Papua New Guinea.
Porto-Novo. (Hyphen.) Capital of Benin.
Portuguese.
Port-Vila. (Hyphen.) Capital of Vanuatu.
Portzamparc, Christian de. (1944–) Moroccan-born French architect; on second reference he is Mr. (or Monsieur) Portzamparc, not de Portzamparc.
Poseidon. Greek god of the sea; identified with the Roman god Neptune.
position. Often a pointer to verbosity. “They now find themselves in a position where they have to make a choice” would be immeasurably better as “They now have to make a choice.”
possessives. Problems with possessives are discussed in some detail in the Appendix under APOSTROPHE, but three especially common faults are worth mentioning here.
1. Failure to put an apostrophe in the right place. This is particularly frequent with words like men’s, women’s, and children’s, which all too often appear as mens’, womens’, and childrens’.
2. Failure to put an apostrophe in at all. This practice—spelling the words mens, womens, and childrens and so on—is particularly rife among retailers. It is painful enough to behold there, inexcusable elsewhere.
3. Putting an apostrophe where none is needed. Possessive pronouns—his, hers, ours, theirs, and so on—do not take an apostrophe. But sometimes one is wrongly inserted, as here: “I don’t think much of your’s” (Independent headline).
(See also “OURS IS NOT TO REASON WHY…”)
possible is wrongly followed by may in constructions such as the following: “It is possible that she may decide to go after all” (Daily Telegraph). Make it either “It is possible that she will decide to go after all” or “She may decide to go after all.” Together the two words are wrong and unnecessary.
posthaste. (One word.) With speed.
posthumous. After death.
postilion.
postmeridian, post meridiem. The first means related to or happening in the afternoon. The second, also pertaining to the period after noon, is the Latin term better known to most of us as the abbreviation p.m. Note the different terminal spellings.