Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words - Bill Bryson [32]
Frazer-Nash for the British sports car. Not Fraser-.
fresh. Usually the word serves as an unobjectionable synonym for new, but it has additional connotations that make it inappropriate in some contexts, as the following vividly demonstrates: “Three weeks after the earthquake, fresh bodies have been found in the wreckage” (cited by Spiegl in The Joy of Words).
Friesian, Frisian. Friesian is a breed of cattle; Frisian is a north Germanic language and the name of a chain of islands lying off and politically divided between the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. Friesian cattle in the United States are normally called Holsteins. Frisian is also sometimes applied to people from Friesland, the Dutch province that partly encompasses the Frisian Islands.
frisson. “A slight frisson went through the nation yesterday” (Times). There is no other kind of frisson than a slight one. The word means shiver or shudder.
Fujiyama means Mount Fuji, so “Mount Fujiyama” is redundant. Make it either Fujiyama or Mount Fuji. The Japanese also call it Fujisan and Fujinoyama.
fulsome is one of the most frequently misapplied words in English. The sense that is usually accorded it—of being abundant or unstinting—is almost the opposite of the word’s historic meaning. Fulsome is related to foul and means odious or overfull, offensively insincere. “Fulsome praise,” properly used, isn’t a lavish tribute; it is unctuous and insincere toadying.
fusion, fission. Both describe ways of producing nuclear energy: fusion by fusing two light nuclei into a single, heavier nucleus, fission by splitting the nucleus of an atom.
future. As an adjective, the word is often used unnecessarily: “Though he refused to be drawn on his future plans, another television series seems a distinct possibility” (USA Today); “The parties are prepared to say little about how they see their future prospects” (Times). In both sentences, and nearly all others like them, future adds nothing and should be deleted.
G
gabardine, gaberdine. The first is a type of worsted cloth, the second a long cloak.
gambit is often misused in either of two ways. First, it sometimes appears as “opening gambit,” which is redundant. Second, it is often employed to mean no more than a ploy or tactic. Properly, a gambit is an opening move that involves some strategic sacrifice or concession. All gambits are opening moves, but not all opening moves are gambits.
gamut signifies a range of items, originally the notes in a musical scale, but now anything that reasonably describes a series. The sense, however, should be one of completeness. You might say that a collection of chemicals runs the gamut from arsenic to zinc, but not from, say, arsenic to benzene. Beware also that “runs the gamut” is a slightly hackneyed phrase anyway, and often is better replaced with something more concise or original. (See also GANTLET, GAUNTLET.)
gantlet, gauntlet. Traditionally in American English, a distinction has been observed between the two. A gantlet was a double line of people armed with blunt weapons through which a thief or other miscreant was forced to run as a form of punishment. Hence the expression “to run the gantlet.” A gauntlet was a protective glove of the sort used by knights in armor, which was flung to the ground as a way of issuing a challenge. Hence the expression “to throw down the gauntlet.” Many authorities (Bernstein notably) long argued against the practice of spelling both words “gauntlet,” but I can’t find a dictionary that supports that position any longer and I think it is safe to say that gauntlet is the preferred spelling for the more common senses of the word in America, as it has long been in Britain. Note, however, that there is a very specific use of the term