Glatzer, Jenna. Words you thought you knew ... 1001 commonly misused and misunderstood words and phrases.Adams Media (57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 03422). 310p. 1-58062-941-5. $8.95. SA Jenna Glatzer, editor-in-chief of Absolute Write (www.absolutewrite.com), polled the roughly 62,000 writers who subscribe to her service to find the most irksome usage errors. This little manual is the result. There are the traditional favorites (its/it's, there/their/they're, accept/ except, bring/take, lie/lay) and some new bloopers. Words that cause confusion include gormless gorm·less adj. Chiefly British Lacking intelligence and vitality; dull. [From dialectal gawm, sense, from Middle English gome, notice, from Old Norse gaumr. , ghostwriter ghost·writ·er n. One who writes for and gives credit of authorship to another. Noun 1. ghostwriter - a writer who gives the credit of authorship to someone else ghost , brutalize bru·tal·ize tr.v. bru·tal·ized, bru·tal·iz·ing, bru·tal·iz·es 1. To make cruel, harsh, or unfeeling. 2. To treat cruelly or harshly. , billabong, immolate im·mo·late tr.v. im·mo·lat·ed, im·mo·lat·ing, im·mo·lates 1. To kill as a sacrifice. 2. To kill (oneself) by fire. 3. To destroy. , papoose, Wicca, and bull session. Glatzer's style is breezy ("In case you missed the movie Dead Poets Society, carpe diem is Latin for seize the day. Good advice, don't you think?"). And yes, there will be a quiz later. In fact, the volume ends with a 50-question test. You'd think 62,000 writers owned dictionaries or usage manuals, but this is an enjoyable read that obviously serves an expressed need. Janet Julian, Grafton, MA Poetry |
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