Miscellaneous Entries.
jetsam (= goods abandoned at sea and submerged indefinitely) is so spelled — not “jetsom.” E.g.: “A box contains the flotsam and jetsom [read ‘jetsam’] she collects to make impressions in the sand.” Larry Maddry, “Artist Finds a Home for Her Creative Spirit via the Sand of Virginia,” Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk), 25 Oct. 1995, at E1. It is pronounced /JET-suhm/.
jewelry; jewellery. The first is the American spelling; the second is British.
jimmy; jemmy. A burglar’s crowbar is spelled “jimmy” in American English, “jemmy” in British. The same is true for the verbs as well.
Johnny-come-lately. The plural is “Johnny-come-latelies” — not “Johnnies-come-lately.”
joint cooperation is redundant.
join together is a redundancy that should be allowed to survive only in the marriage service, and there only because it is a bona fide remnant of Elizabethan English.
For information about the Language-Change Index click here.
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Quotation of the Day: “There is nothing which is really unnecessary or inessential in a well-written or well-spoken English sentence. Every word, phrase, and clause is used to convey and impress the author’s or the speaker’s meaning. This is one of the tests of good speaking and good writing.” Richard Wilson, Precis, Notes, and Summaries 21 (1925).
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