Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Miscellaneous Entries. libido. Although dictionaries once recorded /li-BIY-doh/ as the preferred pronunciation, /li-BEE-doh/ is now the established preference in American English. licorice (/LiK-uh-rish/) is the standard spelling. “Liquorice” is a variant form. This word shouldn’t be confused with its uncommon homophones, “lickerish” (= lascivious, lecherous) and “liquorish” (= tasting like liquor). lie/lay/lain. So inflected (except …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: lip-sync, vb.; lip-synch.

lip-sync, vb.; lip-synch. To lip-sync, of course, is to move one’s lips silently in synchronization with recorded vocals, whether one’s own or someone else’s. Although the dictionaries are split between the “sync” and “synch” forms, the incontestable leader in print is “lip-sync” by a 2-to-1 ratio. But the agent noun is “lip-syncer,” pronounced anomalously with …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Miscellaneous Entries. know, through careless error, is sometimes written “now” — e.g.: “Gempler said he didn’t now [read ‘know’] why the union produced the report.” Hannelore Sudermann, “Teamsters Attack Apple Industry Over Core Issues,” Spokesman-Rev. (Spokane), 23 July 1997, at A10. knowledgeable. So spelled – not ‘knowledgable.’ known /nohn/ is often mispronounced /NOH-uhn/, as if …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Miscellaneous Entries. kaffeeklatsch, a German loanword meaning “a coffee-drinking group that engages in leisurely conversation,” is so spelled. “Coffee klatsch” and “coffee klatch” are variant forms. kaleidoscope. So spelled. Kazakhstan. So spelled — with the medial “-h-.” The inhabitants of this former Soviet republic are called “Kazakhs.” kebab; kabob; kebob; cabob. The first of these …

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