Bill Bryson Writes a Dictionary -- What's the Meaning of That?

I picked up BRYSON'S DICTIONARY FOR WRITERS AND EDITORS today and skimmed it late this afternoon. I thought I'd select 10 of my favorite examples and post them here, but as it turned out I hit the Top Ten before I ever got through the "E" section. I'm including them here, and will continue through the alphabet -- highlighting more favorites in the days to come. (To my surprise, I noted a few inconsistencies in Bill's text -- copy editing errors, no doubt -- but there is some funky stuff too. I Googled him to try to find an email address so I could ask about these oddities, but there's no easy access to Bill. Even so, his stuff is good enough that it's worth sharing.)

awoke, awaked, awakened. Two common problems are worth noting:
1. Awoken, though much used, is generally considered not standard. Thus this sentence from an Agatha Christie novel (cited by Partridge) is wrong: "I was awoken by that rather flashy young woman." Make it awakened.
2. As a past participle, awaked is preferable to awoke. Thus, "He had awaked at midnight" and not "He had awoke at midnight." But if ever in doubt about the past tense, you will never be wrong if you use awakened." *This is my first point of confusion. Why was no comma placed after the first use of "Thus" but not the second?

barbecue. The only acceptable spelling in serious writing. *I see this spelled wrong everywhere, including the sign down the street at "The Barbeque Store."

bated breath. Not baited. Bated is a cousin of abated and so implies something that is withheld.

between you and I. Always wrong. Make it "between you and me."

biathlon. For the sport in which competitors ski across country and shoot set targets. *I was happy to see this item included. To Bryson's comments I will add: biathlon and triathlon have three syllables, not four. Often I hear "bi-ath-a-lon."

caesar salad. Not capped. *Huh? Why? This was a surprise.

Champagne. Region of France, formally Champagne-Ardenne; the wine is champagne (no cap). *Also a surprise.

Del Toro, Benicio. (1967 -- ) Puerto Rican actor. *I think this is a mistake. Shouldn't it be "Puerto Rican-born American actor"?

disinterested, uninterested. The first means neutral, the second not caring. A disinterested person is one who has no stake in the outcome of an event; an uninterested person is one who doesn't care. *This error is made all the time, as is the misuse of infer/imply.

Eszterhas, Joe. (1944 --) Hungarian-born American screenwriter. *Bill is right on this one.

More coming soon!

Bill Bryson's Thunderbolt Kid

My friend, Kathy Getto (Beaded Bungee Bookmark-maker extraordinaire), sent an email a few weeks ago saying she'd just finished a hilarious book, Bill Bryson's THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID. I love hilarity, so I requested it from my library and it arrived a few days later. The memoir focuses on Bill's life as a youngster growing up in Iowa, and concentrates on his memories from roughly six to 14. I too just finished it, and my cheeks are still deliciously sore from laughing. Here is an excerpt:

"...If we had a guest from beyond the usual family circle somebody would always bring out the dribble glass and offer the guest a drink. The dribble glass was the funniest thing I had ever seen. It was a fancy-looking, many-faceted drinking glass -- exactly the sort of glass that you would give to an honored guest -- that appeared to be perfectly normal, and indeed was perfectly normal, so long as you didn't tilt it. But cut into the facets were tiny, undetectable slits, ingeniously angled so that each time the glass was inclined to the mouth a good portion of the contents dribbled out in a steady run onto the victim's chest.

There was something indescribably joyous about watching an innocent, unaware person repeatedly staining him- or herself with cranberry juice or cherry Kool-Aid (it was always something vividly colored) while twelve people looked on with soberly composed expressions. Eventually, feeling the seepage, the victim would look down and cry, 'Oh, my golly!' and everyone would burst out laughing.'

I never knew a single victim to get angry or dismayed when they discovered the prank. Their best white shirt would be ruined, they would look as if they had been knifed in the chest, and they would laugh till their eyes streamed. God, but Iowans were happy souls."

This book is a keeper. Buy it for anyone born in the '50s or early '60s, or for their parents.