Bryan A. Garner

turbid; turgid; turpid; torpid. “Turbid” = (of water) muddy, thick; (fig.) disordered. “Turgid” = swollen, distended, bloated, as with fluid — and by extension, it means “pompous.” “Turpid” is a rare word meaning “filthy, worthless”; it’s related to the word “turpitude” (= baseness, depravity). “Torpid” = dormant, sluggish, apathetic. “Turbid” is sometimes erroneously displaced by …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day tu quoque. “Tu quoque” (/too KWOH-kwee/ [lit., “you also”] = a retort in kind; accusing an accuser of a similar offense) is a phrase that traditionally serves as a noun — e.g.: “Such gatekeepers of the right as Irving Kristol and Robert Bartley blithely promote their flat-earth ideas with …

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trustee, n. Part A: And “trusty.” Trustee (/truhs-TEE/) = a person who, having a nominal title to property, holds it in trust for the benefit of one or more others (the beneficiaries). “Trusty” (/TRUHS-tee/), n., is an Americanism meaning “a (trusted) convict or prisoner.” E.g.: “Because five jail trusties, supervised by the St. John Sheriff’s …

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Miscellaneous Entries. transformational; transformative. “Transformational” is the broader term, meaning “of or characterized by a change of form or substance.” “Transformative” means causing or (less commonly) susceptible to such a change. transfusible. So spelled — not *”transfusable.” transgression for “transition” is a malapropism — e.g.: “Ms. Ash said the laser center ‘is a natural transgression …

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truculent. “Truculent” = (1) cruel, savage; or (2) aggressively defiant; challengingly sulky; disagreeably feisty. Although sense 2 was once condemned as a slipshod extension, today it is the ordinary use — e.g.: o “The Oilers acquired Edmonton native Brantt Myhres, a truculent left winger, from the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday in exchange for a conditional …

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troubleshoot / troubleshot / troubleshot. “Troubleshoot” is so inflected. The erroneous past-tense and past-participial form *”troubleshooted” sometimes appears — e.g.: o “Throughout the evening she troubleshooted [read ‘troubleshot’], greeted guests, mourned the winning low bid on a set of top-notch golf clubs placed by mistake on the silent-auction table, and worried about how the crowd …

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trope. “Trope” (/trohp/) means (1) a figure of speech, esp. a word or phrase used metaphorically, or (2) a motif. Sense 1 is the traditional one — e.g.: “And yet he has held on to the trope of product-launch-as-birth; as recently as the days following the launch of the iPhone, he surprised someone who’s known …

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trooper; trouper. “Trooper” = (1) a cavalry soldier or horse; (2) a police officer mounted on horseback; or (3) a state police officer. “Trouper” = (1) a member of an acting troupe; (2) one who handles adversity well; or (3) a loyal, dependable person. The proper expression, then, is “real trouper” (sense 2), not *”real …

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Miscellaneous Entries. transatlantic; *trans-Atlantic. The former is the standard spelling — on both sides of the Atlantic. “Transpacific” follows the same standard. transcendent; transcendental. “Transcendent” = surpassing or excelling others of its kind; preeminent. It is loosely used by some writers in the sense “excellent.” “Transcendental” = supernatural; mystical; metaphysical; superhuman. The adverbial forms are …

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troop; troupe. Both “troop” and “troupe” have their origins in the medieval French term “troupeau,” meaning “crowd” or “herd.” “Troop” = an assembled unit of soldiers {a troop of parachutists}. The plural form “troops” signifies soldiers {the troops were deployed along the crest of the ridge} and is usually modified by an adjective to indicate …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day trompe l’oeil; *trompe d’oeil; *tromp d’oeil; *trump l’oeil. “Trompe l’oeil,” meaning “deceives the eye,” is by far the most common spelling of this gallicism. It’s the one recorded in most dictionaries. “*trompe d’oeil” is less common. *”Tromp d’oeil” and *”trump l’oeil” are needless variants. The phrase can apply to …

Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: trompe l’oeil; *trompe d’oeil; *tromp d’oeil; *trump l’oeil. Read More »

trek, n. “Trek” derives from the Dutch “trekken” (= “to march or travel”). It’s occasionally misspelled *”treck” — e.g.: o “Jordan Pond is a good spot to begin your mountain-bike treck [read ‘trek’] northward past Eagle Lake to Bar Harbor.” Judith Wynn, “Work of Art,” Boston Herald, 7 Aug. 1997, at 52. o “Hawaii’s many …

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treble; triple. These words are distinguishable though sometimes interchangeable. Outside baseball contexts {he tripled to deep right field}, “trebled” is a common term — e.g.: o “The last time Congress ‘reformed’ campaign finance, it trebled the amount of money that is taken out of the Treasury (your money) and given to presidential candidates.” Theo Lippman …

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Miscellaneous Entries. toxicology; toxology. “Toxicology” = the science of poisons. “Toxology” = the branch of knowledge dealing with archery. tradable. So spelled — not “tradeable.” trademark; tradename. Today in American English, “tradenames” identify businesses; “trademarks” identify goods produced by or services provided by businesses. Each term is now preferably written as one word. traffic, v.i., …

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tread / trod / trodden. So inflected. “Trod” is a variant past participle. Although many American dictionaries (surprisingly) list ‘untrod’ as the standard adjective in preference to ‘untrodden,” the latter form is four times as common. Many writers, unfortunately, have tried to make “trod” into a present-tense verb. They’re treading heavily on the language — …

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trawl, vb.; troll, vb. “Trawl” = to fish with a large cone-shaped net (called a trawl) that is dragged on the bottom of a sea or lake. “Troll” = v.t., (1) to roll (something) around and around; (2) to sing robustly; (3) to pull through water; v.i., (4) to catch fish by dragging a lure …

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