The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage phần 10 pot

thrash and thresh
though or although In spite of appearances, though is not to be thought of as
simply a cut-down, informal version of although. Admittedly there are sentences
like the following, in which either one could be used to mean “despite the fact that”:
Though the door is still intact, the lock needs attention.
Although the door is still intact, the lock needs attention.
The choice of although entails greater formality and emphasis.
Although most often occurs at the start of the sentence, and draws attention
to itself there. Though is more flexible, appearing at the start and at the end of
sentences, as well as in between. It carries more variety of meanings than although.
In mid-sentence it becomes a synonym for but:
I wouldn’t stake my hopes on it, though I’d consider it a hopeful sign.
At the end of a sentence though is a synonym for ‘‘however”:
I wouldn’t stake my hopes on it though.
In that position it often serves to qualify the thrust of the previous statement.
These uses of though have developed in informal talk, but they’re common
enough now in print, as the Right Word at the Right Time (1985) shows. In databases
of written English, the use of though to mean “however” runs at about 8% of all
instances of the word.
Other roles of though (but not although) are to combine with as and even in
compound conjunctions:
As though it had been commissioned, the sun began to shine.
Even though we were indoors, the sunshine seemed to brighten the conversation.
Note that even though seems more emphatic than either although or though, and
can draw extra attention to a concessive statement when it’s needed.
Both though and although have alternative spellings in tho’/tho and
altho’/altho. Unlike many abbreviations, they have no effect on the pronunciation
of the word, and they do tidy up the surplus letters. In spite of this, neither
abbreviation has caught on generally. (There was only 1 instance of tho in the
Australian ACE corpus.) The forms with apostrophe declare their informality, and
those without it are perhaps too different from the regular spelling. Whatever the

reasons, these eminently sensible forms are mostly confined to advertising and
technical writing, according to Webster’s English Usage (1989)—i.e. to styles of
writing which are more independent of the standard conventions of English.
thrash and thresh In Australian English these are two separate words, thrash
meaning “beat” and thresh meaning “separate the grains of wheat from the ears that
contain them”. Originally they were one and the same word “thresshe”, the variant
spelling with an a making its appearance in the sixteenth century. The different
spellings were subsequently linked with the different strands of meaning. But there
are signs of a return to the original situation, except that it’s thrash which is gaining
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through
ground. It sometimes replaces thresh when referring to harvesting, and it’s also the
one used for new figurative meanings, in:
The dog was thrashing about in the water and
Let’s thrash out this problem over lunch.
through With the meaning “from one end to another”, this word can be used in
the dimensions of either space or time. Compare:
They walked through the park.
They worked through the night.
In such cases, through governs a noun which is a unit of space or time. Those uses
of through are established worldwide.
A rather different use of through has developed in American English, in which
it links two words which specify the beginning and the end of a time period:
The gallery will be open Monday through Thursday.
Here through means “from Monday up to and including Thursday”—though it’s
a neater way of saying it, and it has the advantage of making it clear that the period
runs until the end of Thursday. In Australian English when we say Monday to
Thursday, it’s not certain whether the period includes the whole of Thursday. The
use of through to clarify the period is now widely recognised and understood
outside North America, and catching on in Australia.

Note that the spelling thru is not generally used in documentary writing, even
though it quite often appears on street signs (NO THRU ROAD), and in catalogues
and advertisements. It renders the word simply and directly, and has everything to
recommend it. It was one of the set of words which major American institutions
such as the National Education Association and the Chicago Tribune tried to
establish, during nearly a century of spelling reform. (See further under gh.) The
word thruway is a monument to the endeavor, but represented only by references
to the New York Thruway in the Australian ACE database. There are no instances
of thru itself.
throwaway terms Because languages reflect the culture of the people who use
them, they also show something of their values and attitudes to others— those they
admire and those for whom they have no respect. Every language has expressions
like the English Chinese burn, Dutch courage, French leave and Mexican carwash,
which enshrine stereotyped criticism of the peoples concerned.
Throwaway expressions have no factual basis, though they sometimes emerge in
a century when relations with another country are particularly vexed. The Oxford
Dictionary (1989) notes that rivalry between the English and the Dutch in the
seventeenth century seems to have been the matrix for various phrases critical of
the Dutch, including Dutch auction, Dutch bargain, Dutch gold, Dutch treat and
Dutch uncle. The phrases imply stereotypes of the Dutch as stingy and moralising.
Throwaway terms for the French tend to project them as licentious, witness French
800
tight or tightly
kiss, French letter and doing french. Speakers of languages other than English return
the compliment. To express what the English call French leave, there are expressions
in Italian, French and Norwegian which translate as “leave like an Englishman”.
The prejudices and stereotypes embodied in throwaway terms are very
persistent, and it would be better for neighborly relations if they passed into
oblivion. Dictionaries too can do their bit by removing the capital letter from
throwaway terms, so that there’s no subconscious stimulus toreadthemasnational

or geographical terms. The fact that French Guiana comes just before French leave
in the headword list is no reason to insist on keeping the capital letter on the second.
thru or through See through.
thus This has two roles, as:
1 a demonstrative adverb meaning “in this way”
2 a conjunct meaning “consequently”.
Both uses of thus contribute to the cohesion of a piece of writing (see coherence
or cohesion). The second is particularly useful in argument, suggesting logical
connections between one statement and another. Note that it is a conjunct rather
than a conjunction (see further under conjunctions section 3).
tic or tick
These spellings serve to differentiate a medical word from several
others. Tic is reserved for a convulsive motion by the muscles of the face, while tick
covers all of the following:
r
the small bloodsucking insect
r
the small sound made by a clock
r
the small mark (

) used to check items off
r
the cover of a mattress or pillow
Apart from those standard uses, tick is also found in informal idioms such as just a
tick (= moment) and on tick (= credit).
The words spelled tick make a remarkable set of homonyms, and the fact that
several imply something small also suggests that there’s some sound symbolism at
work in the word. See further under phonesthemes.
ticketed For the spelling of this verb, see t.

tidbit or titbit See titbit.
tight or tightly The first of these can be either an adjective as in a tight fist,or
an adverb, especially in informal idioms such as hold tight and sit tight. It usually
follows the verb it modifies.
Tightly is the regular adverb which expresses the firmness of a grip, as in clamped
tightly between the teeth, or the closeness of an arrangement, as in tightly packed
congregation. It can appear either before or after the verb, as in those examples. See
further under zero adverbs.
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tilde
tilde This accent is most familiar in Spanish and Portuguese, though it has
different functions in each. In Spanish it only occurs with n,asinse
˜
nor, to show
that it’s pronounced to rhyme with “tenure” rather than “tenor”. In Portuguese it
appears with a and o to show that they are nasal vowels, whether as single sounds
or as the first vowel in a diphthong as in curac¸
˜
ao.
till or until In most contexts these are equally good, witness:
We’ll delay the discussion till you come.
We’ll delay the discussion until you come.
Until seems a little more formal, yet till is certainly not an abbreviated form of it.
Till was established centuries before until. Both words can be used as prepositions
and conjunctions, in the dimensions of time and space.
Two cautions to note with till/until:
1 to combine up with either of them (up till/up until) is strictly redundant,
though it’s occasionally used for special emphasis.
2 there is no need or justification for ’til, when till stands in its own right and not
as a contraction of until.

timber or timbre These words mean quite different things and are not merely
different spellings for the same word like center/centre. Timber is of course the
collective word for wood which has been harvested and sawn up for use in
buildings etc. It originated in Old English as the word for “wood” or “wooden
construction”.
Timbre is the quality of sound made by a musical instrument, or the singing or
speaking voice. It depends on the relative intensities of the overtones accompanying
the fundamental. It derives from the French word for a small bell. A rare alternative
spelling for timbre is tamber, coined by British linguists in the 1920s to render the
sound of the French word.
time In the Anglo-Saxon tradition, time of day was reckoned in terms of two
equal parts, with twelve hours before noon (am) and twelve before midnight (pm).
Questions about which of the threshold hours belong to which are discussed at the
entry for pm. With the twenty-four hour clock, neither am nor pm are needed, and
the problem disappears altogether.
For matters of historical time, see dating systems. For geological time, see
geological eras and Appendix III.
For the use of the apostrophe in expressions such as six months time or one year’s
time, see under apostrophes section 2.
time zones Australia stretches 4000 kilometres from east to west, and is divided
into three time zones. The eastern states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria
and Tasmania) work by Australian Eastern Standard Time; South Australia and
Northern Territory by Central Standard Time (half an hour behind Eastern
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titles
Standard); and Western Australia by Western Standard Time (two hours behind
Eastern Standard).
Daylight saving adjustments are applied independently by each state to standard
time, and their sovereign right to decide when summertime begins and ends can
result, temporarily, in further time zones. In March 2006 there were five time

zones, when South Australia and Tasmania maintained daylight saving longer than
the rest.
tingeing or tinging See -e section 1d.
-tion Many abstract nouns in English end this way, though strictly speaking the
-t belongs to the stem, and the suffix is -ion. See further under -ation and -ion.
tipstaff The plural of this word is tipstaves according to the Macquarie
Dictionary (2005) and the major American dictionaries. In Australian documents
on the internet (Google 2006) tipstaves outnumbered tipstaffs by more than 8:1.
Compare the two plural forms of staff, discussed under that heading.
tire or tyre See under tyre.
tiro or tyro Dictionaries diverge on which spelling to use for this Latin
loanword meaning a “novice”. In classical Latin it was tiro, and this is the spelling
preferred in the Oxford Dictionary (1989) and other British authorities. However
the immediate source of the word for English was medieval Latin where it was tyro,
and this is the preferred spelling in Webster’s (1986) and the Macquarie Dictionary
(2005). Because of its rarity there’s no pressure to settle the spelling one way or the
other. (For other classical words spelled with both i and y, see under i/y.)
The plural of the word has also varied, though modern dictionaries recommend
the English plural tiros or tyros. The Latin plural tyrones was last recorded in 1824.
titbit or tidbit The first spelling is preferred in Australian and British English,
the second in American English. The word is something of a mystery, but both
Bailey and Johnson record that tid could mean such things as “nice, delicate, tender,
soft”, which seem to come closer to the meaning than tit, a “small animal or object”.
This suggests that the American tidbit is closer to the origin of the word. Yet the
British spelling titbit also dates from the eighteenth century.
titer or titre See -re/-er.
titles The titles of publications and creative works demand special treatment to
set them apart from ordinary strings of words. This entry deals in turn with books,
journal articles, newspapers and magazines and audiovisual media. For the titles
used by people, see under forms of address.

1 Book titles are distinguished in print by italics, and in handwriting or typing by
underlining. On the question of which words in the title to capitalise, all agree
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titles
that the first word must carry a capital letter, but after that there’s considerable
divergence. Opinions range from minimal use of capitals to something like maximal:
a) capitalise nothing apart from any proper names:
For the term of his natural life
b) capitalise all nouns:
For the Term of his natural Life
c) capitalise all nouns and adjectives:
For the Term of his Natural Life
d) capitalise all nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs and adverbs (i.e. everything
except function words):
For the Term of His Natural Life
Librarians and bibliographers work with minimal capitals (option (a)), yet options
(b) to (d) are well established in literary tradition. For many people there’s virtue in
using option (a) in lists and bibliographies (see further under bibliographies), but
using one of the other options for titles quoted in the course of a written discussion.
Option (b) is quite sufficient whenever an italic typeface or underlining is used to
set the title apart from the text in which it’s embedded.
Note also that these options allow us to contrast the title and subtitle of a book
with heavier and lighter capitalisation. Thus any of the options (b) to (d) can be
used for the main title, and option (a) for the subtitle, as in:
The Life and Times of the English Language: the marvellous history of the
English tongue
The use of option (a) for the subtitle also settles a minor bone of contention over
whether to capitalise the first word of the subtitle or not. The principle of minimal
capitals means lower case for everything (except proper names) in the subtitle, as
shown above.

2 The use of short titles (an abbreviated form of the book’s title) is on the increase.
They replace the Latin ibid. etc. in footnotes, and also appear in the main text in
second and subsequent allusions to a publication. In both places, it’s helpful to have
more than minimal capitalisation. (See further under short titles.)
3 Titles of journal articles. The setting of the titles of scholarly articles varies from
journal to journal, reflecting the decisions and preferences of individual editors.
An established style is to enclose the title of the article in quotation marks, and to
use italics (or underlining) for the name of the journal. The more recent style does
away with quotation marks, and simply uses typography to contrast the title of
the article (in roman) with the name of the journal (in italics). Abbreviations for
the stock items in journal references (such as J for Journal) are increasingly used,
especially in the Vancouver style. (See bibliographies section C.)
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toboggan or sled
4 Titles of newspapers and magazines. The mastheads of newspapers and magazines
are set in italics, without The (see further under the). The date of issue and the
edition, where necessary, are given as well as the section number or name, if the
paper is produced in separate units. Page references are optional according to both
the Chicago Manual of Style and Butcher’s Copy-editing (2006).
5 Titles of radio and TV programs, feature films, sound recordings etc. The titles of
these are capitalised, as for books. Again it’s desirable to have more than minimal
capitalisation when the titles are cited amid running text, and options (b), (c) or (d)
serve the purpose. Quotation marks are sometimes used to distinguish the subunits
of a TV or radio series (as with individual poems in an anthology). Otherwise the
titles of audiovisual items are distinguished chiefly by the use of italics (see further
under italics). For more details about citing audiovisual media, see under that
heading.
titre or titer See -re/-er.
ti-tree or tea-tree See tea-tree.
to This small word is the focus of several usage questions about how it relates to

verbs and to particular adjectives.
1 To with verbs. To is commonly thought of as an essential part of the infinitive of
English verbs, but it’s not necessarily so (see infinitives). For a discussion of the
so-called “split infinitive”, as in to really understand, see split infinitive.
To often serves as the link between quasi-auxiliaries or catenatives and the main
verb, as with:
dare to had to going to need to ought to try to want to
Note that the to is sometimes omitted with dare, need and ought, especially in
negative statements (see under those individual headings).
2 To after certain adjectives. To has always been used after adjectives (and adverbs),
especially those which suggest likeness or closeness, for example:
adjacent to close to similar to near to
It also works withmanykindsofwords to suggest aparticular orientation or relative
position, as with:
amenable to averse to comparable to conducive to different to
oblivious to susceptible to
For some of those, the collocation with to is an alternative, but for others it’s the
only one used. Those with a related verb (compare, differ) often have alternatives.
See further under compare, different and oblivious.
toboggan or sled See sled.
805
toilet or toilette
toilet or toilette When first borrowed intoEnglish in the seventeenth century
(as toilette), this French loanword referred to a cloth associated with dressing and
grooming. Within the context of getting dressed it developed a number of other
meanings, almost all of which have been disabled since about 1900, because as toilet
it then became the standard word for a lavatory.
The older and wider associations with dressing and grooming live on in
derivatives such as toilet bag, toilet set and toiletries, and in the occasional use
of toilette (with French pronunciation) to refer to personal ablutions. In writing,

the French spelling helps to distance the word from the WC. No longer is it possible
to say: She appeared in a blue toilet, as was said in the nineteenth century; and the
thought of a toilet being a “reception held while dressing” (an eighteenth century
usage) is unthinkable. The word’s history is a living example of the operation of
language taboos. See further under taboo words.
tolerance or toleration These abstract nouns both embody the verb
tolerate, but the first is the broader and more sympathetic word. It implies a
characteristic willingness to give place to attitudes and practices other than one’s
own. Tolerance also has some more technical meanings:
r
in medicine and pharmaceutics: “capacity to endure”, as in low tolerance for
alcohol
r
in engineering: “acceptable deviation from the specified dimensions”, as in the
measurements have tolerances of only 1 mm
Toleration is mostly used of a specific instance of tolerance,asin:
Don’t count on her toleration of his throwaway lines about Queenslanders.
It implies more strongly than tolerance that there are limits to what one would put
up with. This is still so when it comes to religious toleration, which often suggests
the need to accept other religions because of their presence in the community, not
through any desire to endorse them.
Note that the negative form for both tolerance and toleration is intolerance.
ton, tonne or tun
The word ton belongs to the imperial system of weights
and measures, and is the equivalent of 2240 lb. The extended names gross ton or
long ton help to distinguish it from the short ton of 2000 lb, which is used in the
US. (The latter is therefore sometimes called the “American ton” by outsiders.) The
tonne is a metric unit of mass equal to 1000 kg. (See further under imperial system
and Appendix V.)
Ton derives from tun, a word for a large cask of wine or beer, which has also

served as a unit of measurement for liquids. The spelling ton was simply a variant
of tun that became the word for a standard of weight during the seventeenth
century. Tonne was borrowed from French in the nineteenth century, though it
too is ultimately the same word.
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topic
The word tonnage relates to tons and the imperial system, and there’s not yet
an equivalent for tonnes in the metric system. One could suggest tonneage, though
that goes against standard rules of English spelling (see -e section 1). Perhaps there’s
no need to worry about finding a term, because tonnage will simply become the
standard term relating to the metric tonne as the change to metrication completes
itself.
topic The beginning of a sentence is its most important part. Whatever is there is
foregrounded for the reader as the ongoing focus of interest, whether it’s something
talked about in the preceding sentence(s), or a new focus of attention. Compare:
A) James Rand had always wanted to go to Africa. He had met Moroccans in
Spain who seemed to exude the mystery of the dark continent. He also knew
there was business to be cultivated in Nigeria, and he could amuse himself with
a little big game hunting as recreation.
B) James Rand had always wanted to go to Africa. But until things had settled
down in Nigeria, it wasn’t the place to look for business. It wasn’t far from the
big game hunting grounds however
Notice how version (A) seems to focus on JR the man himself, whereas version
(B) is concerned with the location. These different perspectives develop from the
different openings to the second and third sentences. Both versions begin with a
statement about the man and the place, but (A) turns the spotlight on he, and (B)
on it. Thus the focus of the passage, and what it foregrounds, is controlled by what
appears at the beginnings of sentences.
1 Sentence positions. The all-important first “slot” in the sentence is often referred
to as the topic. The rest of the sentence is then known as the comment. In these

terms the first sentence above is structured thus:
TOPIC COMMENT
James Rand had always wanted to go to Africa.
Note that the topic position can be occupied by different grammatical items. It’s
often a name, pronoun or noun phrase which is the grammatical subject of the
sentence. But it can also be an opening adverbial phrase or clause, as in sentence
two of version (B):
But until things had settled down in Nigeria
Note also that the topic may be preceded by a conjunction/conjunct (in that case
but), which gives no substance but helps to show that the focus is changing. In
closely argued writing the topic is quite often preceded by a conjunct and/or an
interpersonal cue such as perhaps, regrettably, which again helps to frame the topic
item for the reader.
What happens in the comment slot (the latter part of the sentence) is less
important for information focus. It does however serve to introduce information
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topic sentences
which can be developed in the following sentence. The reference to Africa in the
comment of the first sentence gives the writer a basis from which to develop
the subject and to refer to “Moroccans” in the second sentence (version A) and
“Nigeria” (version B), and then to “big game” in the third sentence.
Note that some linguists replace the terms topic and comment with theme and
rheme respectively.
2 Topicalising phrases. Because the topic position is so important, what goes there
should not be dictated by the routine grammar of the clause. Ordinarily a clause
begins with its subject, as noted above; yet something else can be put ahead of it
to highlight the point at issue. The phrase or clause which does that is known as
a topicalising phrase/clause. In documentary writing there are stock topicalising
phrases which serve to alter the focus:
In a similar/later/larger study, JB found that

From a historical/theoretical point of view, the problem
For other examples, see under dangling participle.
Other ways of getting something into topic position are:
r
using the passive. It puts the spotlight on the object of the verb instead of the
subject. Compare:
The Moroccans embodied all the mystery of the dark continent.
All the mystery of the dark continent was embodied in the Moroccans he met.
r
using cleft sentences: see under that heading.
topic sentences These are the sentences that signal what a paragraph is to be
about. See under paragraphs.
tormentor or tormenter Dictionaries always give first preference to
tormentor, but the major ones also present tormenter as an acceptable alternative.
tornado, hurricane or cyclone See cyclone.
torpedo For the plural, see under -o.
torturous or tortuous The first word has torture in it, and torturous means
“causing pain and distress”, as in:
He suffered a torturous death from lung cancer.
The second word tortuous means “twisting, winding”, and so is often found in the
phrase a tortuous path. In fact both words could be applied to a grueling bushwalk
on a narrow and difficult track.
In figurative use, especially in relation to an argument, tortuous is more likely
and more common as a way of saying that what’s said was complicated and hard
to follow. (That is, unless the words uttered were very distressing to the hearer, in
which case it would be torturous.) The two words are often confused, and if there’s
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town names
any risk of misunderstanding, they should bereplaced:tortuous with “convoluted”
and torturous with “excruciating”.

total of Which should it be:
A total of 34 soldiers was recruited.
A total of 34 soldiers were recruited.
Traditional grammar would insist on the first, arguing that the verb has to agree
with total. The alternative view is that the second sentence is also possible, either
(1) because total works as a collective noun, or (2) because total of works as a
numerical phrase like a lot of or a number of, which normally take plural verbs. See
further under agreement section 4.
totaled or totalled Whether to double or not to double the l is discussed
at -l/-ll
toto See in toto.
tour de force
This French phrase means literally “feat of strength”. In English
it usually refers to a feat of technical skill, as in:
The soprano’s high trills were a tour de force.
The phrase can be used admiringly, but it often implies that what was done was
spectacular rather than having particular artistic or intellectual value.
tout de suite In English this is usually taken to mean “at once, immediately”,
while in French it means “following straight on”. Thus it’s open to the same kind
of ambiguity as momentarily as to how soon the intended action will actually take
place. (See momentous or momentary.)
The phrase is sometimes pronounced in English as “toot sweet”, but is not to be
mistaken for the Italian tutti frutti “all fruits”, a confection or icecream made with
a variety of fruits.
toward or towards The choice between these is simply a matter of where
you live. In Australia and Britain people generally plump for towards, whereas
in North America it’s toward. The difference is most marked in Britain however,
where according to corpus evidence towards outnumbers toward by more than
20:1. In Australia the ratio is more like 7:1, while in the US it’s the reverse: 1:7 in
favor of toward.

Note that the word is a preposition, and therefore a different case from the
adjectives/adverbs ending in -ward(s). See further under -ward or -wards.
toweling or towelling For the choice between these, see -l/-ll
town names Australia’s towns and suburbs are often named after places and
people elsewhere, but with some inconsistencies in the spelling. You might wonder
for instance why it’s Moonie in Queenland, Mooney Mooney in New South Wales,
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toxemia or toxaemia
and Moonee (Ponds) in Victoria. Unless you look closely at the Postcode Book, you
may not notice the numerous interstate differences, including the following:
Armadale VIC Armidale NSW
Balaclava VIC Balaklava SA
Berri SA Berry NSW
Berridale NSW Berriedale TAS
Boolaroo NSW Booleroo SA
Boya WA Boyer TAS
Branxholm TAS Branxholme VIC
Carina QLD Carine WA
Cradoc TAS Cradock SA
Currajong QLD Kurrajong NSW
Dimboola VIC Dimbulah QLD
Forest TAS Forrest VIC, WA
Forestdale QLD Forrestdale WA
Girraween NSW Girrawheen WA
Leichardt VIC Leichhardt NSW
Montagu TAS Montague VIC
Nerrena VIC Nerrina VIC
Paringa SA Paringi VIC
Paterson NSW Patterson VIC
Peron WA Peronne VIC

Ranelagh TAS Raneleigh VIC
Rocklea QLD Rockley NSW
Surry Hills NSW Surrey Hills VIC
Stewart VIC Stuart QLD
Teatree TAS Ti Tree NT
Woodforde SA Woodford NSW, QLD, VIC
York Town TAS Yorketown SA
Note also the divergent treatment of names involving Mac: see Mac or Mc.
toxemia or toxaemia See under ae/e.
trachea The plural is discussed under -a section 1.
trademarks When first created, trademarks and tradenames are jealously
guarded commercial property, which can only be used by the company that
owns them. Yet the company might rejoice to hear their product name become
a household word. If your fortunes depend on hoover, it says something about
the success of the brand if people use the word to refer to any vacuum cleaner on
the market. For language watchers it shows that the word is becoming generic and
merits a place in the dictionary.
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trans-
The point at which a word moves from being a tradename to being a generic
word is in one sense a matter of law. Unpleasant law suits have been fought over
what was considered by one party to be a protected tradename, and by the other to
be common lexical property. Dictionaries are sometimes invoked to show whether
or not the word is generic, and can find themselves in the gun for including words
which began life as tradenames. Their defense is to say that such words would not
be in the list if they were not already generic, and to note at the same time that the
word originated as a trademark. A surprising number of household words began
life as trademarks, including:
biro crimplene daks doona fibro kleenex laundromat levis
masonite plasticine polaroid primus technicolor thermos

There are many more.
A listing of current Australian trademarks can be found at
<www.ipaustralia.gov.au>
Newspapers and mass-circulating magazines are more often challenged over the
use of a tradename than dictionaries. They are vulnerable because they also contain
advertising, and editorial use of tradenames may be seen as promoting one product
at the expense of others. Most newspapers take no risks therefore, and urge their
journalists to avoid trademarks altogether by means of a paraphrase, e.g. “sticking
plaster” instead of bandaid. Their other strategy when the word cannot be avoided
(as in verbatim quotes) is to capitalise it, which helps to show that it’s a unique,
proper name and not being used carelessly. Yet the effect can be quite unfortunate,
witness: It was just a Bandaid solution to the agricultural problem, according to
the minister. The use of the capital letter invites a literal rather than figurative
interpretation of bandaid. A way out in this case would be to put quote marks
round “bandaid solution”.
traffic For the spelling of this word when it serves as a verb, see -c/-ck
tranquilliser, tranquillizer or tranquilizer Either the first or second
spelling may be found in Britain, and the second or third in the US. In Australia
the most common spelling is the first, reflecting the general preference for -ise(r)
over -ize(r), and the tendency to follow British practice in doubling a final l before
adding endings. The use of double ll seems particularly misguided in this case, since
it’s not usually indulged before -ise. (Compare equalise, totalisator, and see further
under -l/-ll ) The British spelling is probably influenced by tranquillity, where the
difference in stress justifies the double l. The ideal spelling for Australians would
be tranquiliser, though it has yet to be listed in dictionaries.
trans- This Latin prefix meaning “across, through” comes to us in a large number
of loanwords, especially verbs, but also adjectives and related nouns:
811
transcendent and transcendental
transfer transfigure transform translate translucent transmigrate

transmit transcribe transparent transpose
In modern English the prefix has mostly helped to create geographical adjectives.
Following trans-Atlantic (1779) came:
transalpine trans-Andean trans-Canadian transcontinental trans-Pacific
transpolar trans-Siberian
An exceptional example where trans- is used more figuratively is transsexual.
For the spelling of tran(s)sexual and tran(s)ship, see under -s/-ss
transcendent and transcendental In common usage either of these may
be used to mean “surpassing ordinary standards or limits”, though they have
few applications in everyday life. Transcendental is most familiar in the phrase
transcendental meditation, a profound yet fully conscious state of relaxation
deeper than sleep, which is reached by a technique derived from Hinduism. In
western philosophy transcendental is used in reference to a particular style of
argumentation, whereas transcendent refers to that which is beyond experience.
In Christian theology transcendent is the term used to express the idea of a divinity
existing beyond the created world. Still in the realms of the abstract, transcendental
is used in mathematics to describe a number which cannot be produced or expressed
by algebraic operations.
transexual or transsexual See under -s/-ss.
transferable, transferrable or transferrible The first spelling is
preferred in all dictionaries, though the pronunciation it implies (with stress on the
first syllable) is not the most common. The second spelling with two rs (suggesting
stress on the second syllable) is also registered in the larger dictionaries as an
alternative. Only the largest dictionaries record the third, rather latinate spelling,
but by their evidence it is archaic.
Compare inferable.
transferer or transferor The spelling with -er is the one to use for general
purposes, whereas the one with -or is for legal uses. Webster’s Dictionary (1986)
registers yet other spellings with two rs: transferrer/transferror, which accord well
with common pronunciation (with stress on the second syllable) but are rarely seen.

transfers Words and compounds often acquire newrolesandmeaningsby being
transferred from one grammatical class to another. Shakespeare made it happen in
the much quoted It outherods herod; and a striking modern example can be seen
in: The concept has been Laura Ashleyed. The grammatical process is no stranger
than the one we accept in sentences like the following:
They were short-changed at the restaurant.
He buttonholed me in the corridor.
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transient or transitory
The conversion of nouns and noun compounds to verbs has fostered innumerable
new usages since the Middle English period, when the number of distinctive
inflections for all classes of words was reduced to the small number we know
today. Many of those produced by Shakespeare are now unremarkable elements
of the English language. Modern examples are quickly assimilated, such as the
following, all from the first half of the twentieth century:
audition contact date debate feature package page pressure
process service
The reverse process, by which verbs are converted into nouns, is also common
enough. The following are all very old transfers of this kind:
aim contest fall hunt laugh lift look move push reject ride
scan shudder sneeze split
Adjectives also lend themselves to conversion, and have generated new verbs all
through the history of English. Examples from the thirteenth, fourteenth and
fifteenth century include:
black blind blunt brown calm crisp dim dirty empty equal
humble secure treble
Even comparative adjectives can become verbs, witness better and lower.
All those examples show that English permits and even encourages such
transfers. Some English-users nevertheless react to new transfers, especially cases
where nouns work as verbs, as with action, impact, interface and profile for example.

Those four are by now widely used, and are not examples of the most objectionable
kind, where the writer hasn’t taken the trouble to find the right form of word for
the job:
The agriculture document was vocabularied so as to obstacle-course the project
for the would-be understander.
A concentrated collection of ad hoc transfers like that is enough to make anyone
shudder, and we might note that examples involving words of more than two
syllables seem extra awkward. But the shift of one and two-syllabled words from
one class to another goes on unnoticed all the time, without people turning a hair.
Note that the linguistic name for transfers or conversions of words from one
grammatical class to another is zero derivation (because the word changes class
without any derivational suffix. See further under suffix.)
tranship or transship See under -s/-ss
transient or transitory These both mean that something will not linger. In
their connotations however they differ, since transitory can have a certain elegiac
melancholy about it, as in the transitory freshness of youth. Transient is more matter
of fact about the brevity of things, and transient visitors are simply “short-term”
ones.
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transitive and intransitive
transitive and intransitive In traditional grammar these words identify an
aspect of the way verbs work. A transitive verb is one with a direct object as the
focus of the action it expresses, as with pick (a team) or send (a letter). Intransitive
verbs are ones without an object, such as appear and vanish. But many verbs can
be used either transitively or intransitively, witness:
Transitive Intransitive
They flew me to Darwin. The bird flew away.
She boiled the kettle. The kettle boiled.
Note that verbs in the passive are automatically regarded as transitive, because
they involve using the object of a verb as the subject. Compare:

A messenger was dispatched to Rome (passive/transitive)
They dispatched a messenger to Rome (active/transitive)
Reflexive verbs are also regarded as transitive, because of the reflexive pronouns
which function as their objects:
She drove herself to the airport.
Note that in all the examples so far the verb has one object and is therefore
monotransitive. Compare ditransitive verbs, which have both indirect and direct
objects in that order (see object section 2).
1 Transitivity extended. Certain other kinds of verbs are transitive by virtue of the
noun clause which is their normal object. Typically they are verbs which express a
mental or verbal process, such as say, think etc. See for example;
I know he’ll do well.
The idea of transitivity is also extended by some grammarians to verbs which take
an infinitive, because they regard the infinitive as a noun, and as the object of the
verb. (See further under verbal nouns.) This makes like a transitive verb in the
following construction:
They liked to swim after work.
The alternative analysis is to regard to swim as a complement of the catenative verb
like, and the verb phrase is then intransitive.
2 Phrasal andprepositional verbs can bedifficult to categorise intermsof transitivity.
Compare:
He can’t live down his past.
He lives down the road.
Grammarians associated with the Longman Grammar (1999) and the Cambridge
Grammar (2002) would regard live down in the first sentence as a transitive
verb—down being a particle closely linked with the verb, rather than prefacing
the following noun, as in the second sentence, where it’s a preposition.
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tri-
3 Copular verbs also challenge the transitive/intransitive distinction, as in I feel

uneasy. They are usually felt to have more in common with intransitive verbs,
because the item after the verb is not its object but a complement for the subject.
(See further under copular verbs.)
Note also that in spite of the problems in applying traditional notions of
transitivity, the terms transitive and intransitive persist in dictionaries. Recent
grammars such as the Longman Grammar (1999), the Cambridge Grammar (2002)
and Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar (2004) take seriously the need
to reanalyse the concept of transitivity for English.
transitory or transient See transient.
transparence or transparency When referring to a photographic image,
only transparency will do. Either word can be used for the abstract noun that
describes the quality of being transparent, though even there transparency is more
common.
transsexual or transexual See under -s/-ss
transship or tranship See under -s/-ss
traveled or travelled, traveler or traveller, traveling or
travelling
The choice between these is discussed under -l/-ll
travelogue or travelog See under -gue/-g.
tread The regular past forms of this verb are trod (past tense) and trodden (past
participle). The form trod is sometimes used instead of trodden:
He’s trod his muddy shoes on the new carpet.
Examples of this usage have been on record since the sixteenth century, and it’s an
accepted variant in Australia.
treasonable or treasonous These are equivalent, though treasonable is the
one for most purposes. It serves in law, as in treasonable offence, as well as in
ordinary usage, as a general synonym for “traitorous”. The use of treasonous
has steadily declined, and even to Fowler (1926) it was largely a poetic word.
Dictionaries confirm the trend by crossreferencing the less common treasonous to
treasonable.

treble or triple See triple.
tri- This Latin prefix for “three” is found in common words such as:
triangle tricycle trident trifecta triplet tripod
Yet it also plays a vital part in scientific words, in chemistry:
trichloride trioxide tritium trinitrotoluene (TNT)
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trialed or trialled, trialing or trialling
and in medicine:
triceps tricuspid trinodal trivalve
Tri- appears in time words like trimonthly and triweekly, where it means
“happening every three months/weeks”. In the same way triennial means “every
three years”. Note however that tricentennial is actually less common than
tercentenary as the word for “three hundredth anniversary”, even though it matches
up better with bicentennial/bicentenary.
The prefix tri- appears with a shortened vowel in words such as trilogy, trinity
and trivial. Note that the last word is probably connected with trivium, the three-
part curriculum that was the foundation level of medieval schooling.
trialed or trialled, trialing or trialling Working as a verb is still
relatively new for trial, and the spelling is unstable. The Macquarie Dictionary
(2005) recommends the spellings with two ls, in keeping with British practice on
verbs ending in l. Yet a search of Australian documents on the internet (Google
2006) found the more regular spelling trialed in about 40% of all instances of the
word. See further under -l/-ll
triceps For the plural see under biceps.
trillion
For the value of this number, see under billion.
triple or treble Both these are modern forms of the Latin triplus, which comes
to us direct in triple, and as treble via Old French and Middle English. Both words
can now work as adjectives, nouns or verbs, though from the evidence of English
databases there are some differences in the use of each. Overall British English

prefers treble, using it as noun, verb and adjective, while triple works the same way
in American English. Australian usage has something each way: in the ACE corpus
both words are found as verbs, though there are three instances of treble to one of
triple, and triple alone appears as adjective and noun. The tendency here is to give
more roles to triple and fewer to treble.
Writers who use both words sometimes maintain a distinction made by Fowler
(1926), that treble means something has become three times as great as a known
reference point, e.g. Costs have trebled since 1980; whereas triple means “consisting
of three parts or difference entities” as in triple alliance or triple jump. Yet the
Australian Oxford (2004) and the Macquarie Dictionary (2005) both allow that
triple can mean “(become) three times as great”.
For musicians, however, the two words still stand far apart. Treble refers to the
highest voice part in a musical score, and to instruments whose range corresponds
to it, such as the treble recorder. Triple refers to musical rhythm in which there are
three beats to a bar (as in a waltz), which contrasts with duple and quadruple time
signatures (as in a march).
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troop or troupe, trooper or trouper
triumphant or triumphal The first of these expresses a personal feeling
of triumph, as in She was triumphant after winning the contract. Triumphal has
ceremonial overtones, as in a triumphal arch or triumphal march.
trivia This Latin loanword is the plural of trivium, a word used in medieval
schooling for the lower or elementary curriculum. In modern English trivia means
“petty details”, though the largest dictionaries allow that it may be construed as
either plural or singular: all these trivia/all this trivia. Webster’s English Usage
(1989) finds the two patterns about equally common. The use of trivia with singular
agreement seems not to have raised as much angst as data and media (see under
those headings).
-trix This is sometimes thought of as a feminine suffix, because it identifies
the feminine gender in pairs like aviatrix/aviator. Strictly speaking however, the

operative ending is -ix, since the t and r belong to the stem. Either way it appears in
very few other words in English, only executrix and testatrix, which are confined to
law and do not undermine women’s opportunities more generally. Compare -ess.
Note the case of loanwords like matrix and cicatrix, where the ending is a
reminder of the fact that they have both Latin and English plural forms. See further
under -x.
trolley or trolly These spellings once served to distinguish a type of lace
(trolly) from a four-wheeled vehicle (trolley). But the former is now hardly known,
and so trolly is beginning to be reused as a simple variant for trolley in reference
to supermarket vehicles etc., according to Oxford Dictionary (1989) citations.
trompe l’oeil This French phrase means literally “deceive the eye”. It refers to
a type of painting which creates the illusion of three dimensional space as hyperreal
art does; or to interior decor which suggests spatial features which are not there,
such as painted panels which make a passage seem longer or a room look larger.
troop or troupe, trooper or trouper Both words are derived from
French troupe an “organised group of people”, but usually associated with different
activities. A troupe is a group of actors or entertainers, as in a troupe of street
theatre artists, though just occasionally this is written as troop. The spelling troop
is usually reserved for an organised unit of boy scouts, or to a subdivision of a
cavalry regiment. In military usage, the plural troops refers to the whole body of
soldiers, not particular units within it.
The distinction between troupe and troop carries over to trouper and trooper.
Trouper refers to a member of an entertainment group, and trooper to either a
cavalryman or a mounted policeman. The first is proverbially a committed and
experienced performer, the second the archetypal champion at swearing. Compare:
He carried on like a trouper.
He swore like a trooper.
817
truism
However the Oxford Dictionary (1989) shows that the more familiar spelling

trooper is sometimes used where we might expect the other, as in “a fine trooper”.
truism This is a word to be wary of. In technical usage, a truism is a tautology,
i.e. a self-validating statement, like: A triangle has three sides. But the word is also
commonly used to refer to a self-evident truth, one which requires no proof. As
such it may be either an axiom, or worse, a platitude—so obvious that it does not
bear uttering. This last possibility makes truism an unreliable word, and one to
avoid if you want to stress the fundamental truth or factuality of something, as in:
It’s a truism that homosexual behavior exposes people to AIDS.
With truism embedded in it, the statement runs the risk of either being thought
pretentious, or to mean that you think the observation is superfluous. Either way
you need to express the thought in other words.
trumpet For the spelling of this word when used as a verb, see under t.
try to or try and Try to is standard English and acceptable anywhere. Try
and often replaces it in informal promises and instructions, as in:
I’ll try and keep in touch with her.
Try and come soon.
Though try and is often criticised as illogical, it seems to express a supportive
attitude, as Fowler (1926) noted. It therefore has a particular interpersonal role to
play, which may be as important in certain kinds of writing as in speech. It probably
has no place in institutional writing, hence the censure often applied to it.
Note that the use of try and is always associated with try itself, and no other
parts of the verb. We cannot use and after tries, trying or tried.(And cannot replace
to in He tries to make the best of it.)
Some style guides warn against using try and in negative statements, perhaps
because Fowler did. Yet a negative instruction like Don’t try and crack hardy over
it sounds natural enough, and with its supportive implications it may be more
appropriate than Don’t try to in some contexts.
tsar or czar See under czar.
tumor or tumour See under -or/-our.
tun or ton See ton.

tunneled or tunnelling See -l/-ll
turbid or turgid Writing which fails to communicate may be turbid (muddy,
unclear, confused) or turgid (inflated, pompous), or both. When trying to identify
the problem, you need to know which, although generalised criticism of a style
often conflates the two. Our ability to separate them is hampered by the fact that
neither is much used now in its essential physical sense: turbid in reference to a
818
tyre or tire
liquid with particles stirred up in it, and turgid as “swollen”. Either way, plain
English is needed as an antidote to turbid and turgid writing.
turfs or turves The choice of plurals is discussed under -f/-v
turnover lines
Tumover(s) is the editorial term used in Australia and Britain
for line(s) which run on to the next one. In the US they are known as runover lines.
After a paragraph indent turnovers are of course set flush left. But in an index
or the stub of a table, turnovers go the other way and are normally indented 1 em
from the left alignment in an index, or the left margin in a table. (See indexing and
tables.) In captions to pictures, the turnovers may be aligned on the left, indented,
or even centred.
twingeing or twinging The choice between these is discussed under -e
section 1d.
-ty This masquerades as an English suffix in abstract nouns such as:
casualty certainty cruelty frailty loyalty safety
All of those have closely related adjectives from which they might seem to be
derived. In fact the nouns were borrowed ready-made from French, and none have
been formed independently in English. Compare -ity.
type of For questions of agreement relating to this phrase, see under kind of.
typhoid or typhus Typhoid means “typhus-like” and is a reminder that these
two different diseases have similar symptoms, and that typhus was the one first
identified.

Typhus was the name given in 1759 by de Sauvages to a severe and often fatal
infection, characterised by (among other things) great lassitude and the eruption of
reddish spots. It was associated with crowded human habitations, such as camps,
hospitals, jails and ships, hence some of the earlier names for it: camp fever, jail
fever. The disease is now better understood, as an infection from micro-organisms
transmitted by fleas and lice in crowded places.
Typhoid fever has similar febrile symptoms, and was not distinguished from
typhus until the mid-nineteenth century. Its source is a dangerous bacillus in
contaminated food or drink, which causes severe intestinal inflammation and
ulceration—again often fatal.
typhoon, tornado or cyclone See cyclone.
tyre or tire In Australian and British English, these two spellings are used to
distinguish the rubber shock-absorber round the rim of a wheel (tyre) from the
verb meaning “exhaust” (tire). In American English tire serves for both meanings.
The words are quite separate in origin. Tire meaning “exhaust” goes back to Old
English, whereas tyre is a contracted form of attire, a loanword from French. At
819
tyro or tiro
first this word referred to any kind of wheel covering, and could mean the metal
rim on a cartwheel. Later they were made of wood or cork. The use of rubber
was a byproduct of nineteenth century colonialism, and the first inflatable rubber
tyre was patented in 1890. All through this time, the word could be spelled either
tire or tyre, and the spelling tire was endorsed by the Oxford Dictionary, and by
Fowler in the 1920s. However the spelling tyre was the one used in the patent,
and subsequently taken up in Britain as the twentieth century evolved. It has no
etymological justification, but appeals to those who prefer that homophones should
not be homographs as well. The grammar of the two words serves to keep them
apart however, and Americans do without tyre, at no obvious cost to their industrial
development.
tyro or tiro See tiro.

820
U
U and non-U No other letter of the alphabet has the touch of class that now goes
with U. Inthe late 1950s it acquiredunforgettable social and linguistic significanceas
the letter/symbolfor “upper class”, andespecially for thespeechhabits of theBritish
aristocracy. Class differences in speech had certainly been recognised before in
Shaw’s Pygmalion which dramatised the contrast between the language of the upper
crust and the working class. U and non-U are a little different in that they focus on
the differences between upper and middle class: differences in pronunciation and
the choice of words, as well as greetings and modes of address. The following are
some of the different word choices made by the two groups:
U non-U
drawing room lounge
jam preserve
lavatory toilet
napkin serviette
rich wealthy
scent perfume
vegetables greens
writing paper notepaper
The U list comprises traditional expressions, whereas those in the non-U list are
often more recent French loans. In comparison with the older words they perhaps
have a certain air to them—that slight pretension that goes with French words and
spellings elsewhere. (See further under frenchification.)
The terms U and non-U were coined by Alan Ross in an academic article
published in 1954. They might never have caught on but for the reprinting of the
article two years later in a small anthology of essays titled Noblesse Oblige, edited
by Nancy Mitford. Since then the language has of course moved on, and some of
Ross’s non-U words have eclipsed their U equivalents. The terms U and non-U
have been extended to refer to social conventions, not just linguistic behavior, and

to ones which may not be linked with class. Thus non-U can mean something like
“unfashionable”, as in Skivvies are definitely non-U for our children, especially in
Australia where it’s unclear who might constitute the upper class.
The idea that people’s use of words reveals something of their identity is as old
as the word shibboleth (see under that heading). Since the 1950s the connections
between language and society have been the subject of systematic research, and
821
U-ey or U-ie
social dialects are now considered as important in the total picture of language
variation as geographical dialects. See further under dialect.
U-ey or U-ie The colloquial abbreviation for U-turn is very much an Australian
invention, though the term itself is known in other parts of the English-speaking
world. Like many a colloquialism, it has only recently made its appearance in
print, and the spelling is not yet standardised. Citations in the Australian National
Dictionary (1988) are mostly for U-ey (apart from odd ones for Uy and youee). The
Macquarie Dictionary (2005) also lists U-ie, which is the usual spelling for informal
abbreviated words of this type. See further under -ie/-y.
UK These days UK stands for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. The “United Kingdom” wasn’t built in a day, but over centuries by strategic
treaties. England and Wales were united by treaty in 1536, and Scotland joined in
1707 to form Great Britain. The so-called “Act of Union” brought the whole of
Ireland into the “United Kingdom” in 1801, but in 1921 the south of Ireland (Eire)
regained its independence, and now only Northern Ireland remains.
The abbreviation UK is useful shorthand on envelopes and wherever space is at
a premium. In phrases like UK government the abbreviation is more accurate than
“British government” would be in the same place, though the latter is preferred in
official documents. The abbreviation needs no stops because it’s in upper case. See
further under abbreviations.
ukulele or ukelele The first spelling represents exactly the two Hawaiian
words for a popular musical instrument. Surprisingly they are uku “flea” and

lele “jumping”. The second spelling is a variant which shows how our common
pronunciation of the word turns the second vowel into a schwa (see under that
heading). Dictionaries all give preference to ukulele, yet ukelele is to be found in
some well-respected musical references.
ulna For the plural of this word, see -a section 1.
Ulster See under Irish.
ult. This Latin abbreviation was once used regularly in business letters:
Thank you for your letter of 23 ult.
It stood for ultimo mense “last month”; and it contrasted with inst.(instante mense
“this month”) and prox.(proximo mense “next month”). All three smack of older
styles of correspondence. Modern letter writers give the name of the month, as in:
Thank you for your letter of 23 August.
See further under commercialese.
ultimatum For the plural of this word, see under -um.
822
-um
ultra In Latin ultra was an adverb and preposition meaning “beyond”. In modern
English it works as a prefix for various adjectives, with the meaning “beyond the
range of”, as in ultrasonic and ultraviolet. Some scientific formations of this kind
have become household words, witness UHT milk (“ultra-heat-treated”), and the
UHF wave band which means “ultra-high frequency”. But in common words ultra
often means “extremely or very”, as in ultrafashionable and ultramodern.
Ultra can also be used as an independent adjective, as in:
They were voting with the ultra conservatives.
Its use as a noun for “one who goes to extremes” can be seen in:
Punks are the ultras of counterfashion.
In both these uses, and some of the compound adjectives, ultra carries the value
judgement “excessive”. This meaning seems to have originated in the French loan
ultrarevolutionary, first recorded in 1793, and is latent in many nonscientific words
which have been coined with ultra- since then.

ultra vires This Latin phrase means “beyond the powers (of)”. It represents the
judgement that a particular issue is beyond the legal power and authority of a
person, committee or institution to deal with.
Compare it with intra vires meaning “within the powers (of)”, which affirms
that the issue in hand is within the jurisdiction of the authority concerned.
-um This ending on a word of two or more syllables is usually a sign that it’s a
Latin loanword, as for:
aquarium atrium colloquium compendium condominium consortium
crematorium curriculum emporium encomium equilibrium forum
fulcrum gymnasium honorarium mausoleum maximum medium
memorandum millennium minimum moratorium ovum podium
referendum rostrum sanatorium sanctum serum solarium spectrum
stadium stratum symposium ultimatum vacuum
The key question is their plurals, whether they should be Latin ones with -a or
English ones with -ums, or perhaps either. Overall, the more the word appears in
everyday use, the more likely it is to take the English plural, as with aquariums,
compendiums, condominiums, emporiums, gymnasiums, moratoriums, serums,
ultimatums, vacuums. Those which most often appear in scholarly or institutional
contexts make more use of their Latin plurals, e.g. curricula, memoranda and
millennia. These tendencies were the general preferences of respondents to an
Australian Style survey (1998–9), though between 20% and 35% preferred English
plurals even for words in the latter group. A few scholarly words ending in
-um are always found with Latin plurals, namely addenda, corrigenda, desiderata,
errata.
823