Uranus. The traditional pronunciation of the planet and the mythical god is /YOOR-uh-nuhs/. The dominant pronunciation in American English is /uu-RAY-nuhs/, even though that variant is a relative newcomer. As Charles Harrington Elster notes, “Until the middle of [the 20th] century nearly two hundred years after the planet’s discovery in 1781, the only recognized pronunciation …

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violoncello. “Violoncello,” not *”violincello,” is the correct spelling for the bass member of the violin family. Not surprisingly, the word is often misspelled — e.g.: o “He used a violincello [read ‘violoncello’] for the body of the female figure.” Robert L. Pincus, “Surrealist Max Ernst Just Having Fun with Sculpture,” San Diego Union-Trib., 19 July …

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victory. The phrase *”win a victory: is a common but venial redundancy — e.g.: o “The United Auto Workers has won a victory in Northeast Ohio in its bid to unionize seat plants owned by Johnson Controls Inc. [read ‘won in its bid to unionize seat plants in Northeast Ohio owned by Johnson Controls Inc.’]” …

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vicious circle; vicious cycle. Both mean “a situation in which the solution to one problem gives rise to a second problem, but the solution to the second problem brings back the first problem.” “Vicious circle” is about 40% more common than “vicious cycle” in modern print sources. And “vicious circle” is the phrase with stronger …

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vicious; viscous. “Vicious” (= brutal) is sometimes confounded with “viscous” (= gummy) — e.g.: o “Crouching just behind the service line, Agassi ran around his backhand to take a viscous [read ‘vicious’] rip at a return off Ferrero’s timid serve.” Selena Roberts, “Agassi Out as Ferrero Capitalizes on a Break,” N.Y. Times, 7 June 2002, …

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Miscellaneous Entries. uprighteous is a portmanteau word, a combination of “upright” and “righteous” — e.g.: “You may recall the uproar over Atlanta pitcher John Rocker and his lowly opinions of New York City and its inhabitants. It was hardly an original view, but he said it to a magazine reporter, and the uprighteous sky fell …

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vice versa. “Vice versa” (= the other way around; just the opposite) should be the fulcrum for reciprocal referents. That is, “Mike likes Ellen and vice versa” says that Ellen also likes Mike. The subject and the object could be switched around, leaving the verb intact — e.g.: “You can adjust the slide to allocate …

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viable. “Viable” originally meant “capable of living; fit to live,” a sense that still applies in many phrases, such as a “viable fetus.” By acceptable extension it has come to refer figuratively to any idea or thing that might flourish. But in this use it’s a vogue word that can often be improved on — …

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via. “Via” = (1) by way of (a place); passing through {they flew to Amarillo via Dallas}; or (2) by means of, through the agency of {we sent the letter via fax}. Sense 2, a casualism, is questionable whenever a simple preposition would suffice. Ernest Gowers called it a vulgarism in Modern English Usage (2d …

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veteran. Once a veteran, always a veteran. Hence *”former veteran” is redundant — e.g.: o “Many former veterans [read ‘veterans’] now work in the private sector and would have good reason to fear any disclosure of their possible exposure to Agent Orange.” Shira A. Scheindlin, “Discovering the Discoverable: A Bird’s Eye View of Discovery in …

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Miscellaneous Entries. unsupportable; insupportable. Both forms are standard and have been since they were first recorded in English in the 16th century. “Unsupportable is about twice as common as “insupportable” in American print sources — e.g.: “Adding $212 a month for health insurance to food, transportation, and housing costs in this high-cost state might well …

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very. Part A: As a weasel word. This intensifier, which functions as both an adjective and an adverb, surfaces repeatedly in flabby writing. In almost every context in which it appears, its omission would result in at most a negligible loss. And in many contexts the idea would be more powerfully expressed without it — …

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verses; versus. “Verses” (/VUHR-siz/) are lines of a poem or song, sections of a song separated by the chorus, or subsections of chapters in books of the Bible. “Versus” (/VUHR-suhs/) is a preposition from the Latin, meaning “facing,” especially in law and sports. Writers sometimes misspell it “verses” — e.g.: o “‘Many rooms are semi-private …

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Language-Change Index. The third edition of Garner’s Modern American Usage reflects several new practices. Invariably inferior forms, for example, are now marked with asterisks preceding the term or phrase, a marking common in linguistics. The most interesting new feature is the Language-Change Index. Its purpose is to measure how widely accepted various linguistic innovations have …

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Miscellaneous Entries. unknown quantity (= a person or thing whose characteristics haven’t been assessed) was originally a mathematical phrase. It became popular in the mid-20th century. Since then, some people have misunderstood the phrase as “unknown quality” — e.g.: “‘She is an unknown quality [read ‘quantity’] as a legislator, but you don’t come in here …

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