Bryan A. Garner

Wellerisms. A wellerism (after Sam Weller or his father, two noted characters in Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers [1836-1837]), is a statement, especially a proverbial or allusive one, in which the speaker puts the words in a new light or a surprising setting, often by means of punning. E.g.: o “‘That’s food for reflection,’ as the

Miscellaneous Entries. virtue of, by; *in virtue of. “By virtue of,” not *”in virtue of,” is now the idiomatic phrase. The latter is archaic. virtuoso. The plural is preferably “virtuosos” — not *”virtuosi” (a pedantic form that is less than half as common in modern print sources). virus. The plural is “viruses.” visor (= a

weep / wept / wept. So inflected. The erroneous form *”weeped” sometimes appears — e.g.: o “Players from both teams weeped [read ‘wept’] and prayed.” Jarrett Bell, “Terrifying Injury Ends Player’s NFL Career,” USA Today, 23 Dec. 1997, at A1. o “‘I can’t stand up. I can’t stand up,’ [Carolyn] Sims weeped [read ‘wept’] as

weave / wove / woven. “Weaved” is correct only in the sense “moved in a winding or zigzag way” — e.g.: “Like scores of Saturday shoppers, Potter found himself in the middle of a 40-minute foot chase that began near the Capitol, weaved in and out of State Street buildings, and ended with the arrest

Miscellaneous Entries. vindictive; vindicatory; *vindicative. “Vindictive” = given to or characterized by revenge or retribution. “Vindicatory” = (1) providing vindication {a vindicatory eyewitness account}; or (2) punitive, retributive {vindicatory actions against the company}. Because sense 2 verges closely on the domain of “vindictive,” “vindicatory” should be reserved for sense 1. *”Vindicative” is a needless variant

Weasel Words. Theodore Roosevelt said, in a speech in St. Louis on May 31, 1916: “One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs it sucks the meat out of the egg and leaves it an empty shell. If you use

wear / wore / worn. So inflected. The simple-past “wore” is sometimes mistakenly used as a past participle — e.g.: o “And Imler turned out to be a pleasant surprise, using his quickness to create shots and gaining confidence at the point as the season has wore [read ‘worn’] on.” John C. Cotey, “The 2

weaponize. For a long time — probably beginning in the 1970s — this “-ize” neologism was in the exclusive domain of military and international-relations jargon. Uses were infrequent, but the word occurred as early as 1984 — e.g.: “‘Absolutely no work is being done to develop, manufacture, store or weaponize biological warfare agents,’ the [Pentagon]

Miscellaneous Entries. vice; vise. In American English, a “vice” is an immoral habit or practice, and a “vise” is a tool with closable jaws for clamping things. But in British English, the tool is spelled like the sin: “vice.” vichyssoise (= a thick soup made with potatoes and leeks and usu. served cold) is often

wean. “Wean” means either “to cause (a child or young animal) to become accustomed to food other than the mother’s milk” or, by extension, “to withdraw (a person) gradually from a source of dependence.” Thus, a person is typically “weaned off” something — e.g.: o “Skeptics have claimed this decline in caseload would slow and

*way which. *”Way which” is erroneous for “way in which.” E.g.: “This column has as its main goal the empowerment of you, the reader, about ways which [read ‘ways in which’] you can become more informed and thereby take more responsibility for your own health.” Glenn Ellis, “Using Herbs as a Method of Preventive Medicine,”

way(s). In the sense “the length of a course or distance,” “way” is the standard term {a long way}. “Ways” is dialectal. So it’s surprising to find “ways” in serious journalism — e.g.: “This is premature, of course; Fox still has a ways to go [read ‘some way to go’?] before it’s a full-fledged network.”

Miscellaneous Entries. verbatim; literatim; ipsissima verba. These apparent synonyms carry slight nuances. “Verbatim” = word for word. “Literatim” = letter for letter. Sometimes the phrase “verbatim et literatim” is seen. “Ipsissima verba” (lit., “the selfsame words”) = the exact language used by someone quoted (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary [11th ed.]). verdict refers to a jury’s pronouncement.

waylay / waylaid / waylaid. Occasionally the past tense or past participle is misspelled *”waylayed” — e.g.: o “Keggi’s career was waylayed [read ‘waylaid’] in 1993 when she drank some bad water and was stricken with lingering symptoms from E-Coli bacteria.” Paul Harber, “They’re Going the Distance,” Boston Globe, 24 Apr. 1997, at C10. o

water under the bridge; water over the dam. Both phrases allude to time gone by and events passed. What the latter phrase adds to the former is the connotation of missed opportunities — e.g.: o “Whether other prosecutions should have taken place under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act is another question, and it appears at